In 1999, Preeta D. Bansal was appointed Solicitor General of New York, becoming one of the first Indian American women to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of a state government. As the state’s chief appellate lawyer, she argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of New York and oversaw litigation on major constitutional and public policy issues. At a time when Indian Americans were scarcely represented in elite legal practice, her appointment established a visible precedent and broadened the presence of the diaspora in the highest ranks of the American legal profession.
