Arundhati Katju

Arundhati Katju is a Senior Advocate at the Supreme Court of India, renowned for her expertise in constitutional and criminal law. She rose to international prominence in 2019 as counsel for the lead petitioners in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, the landmark case in which the Supreme Court struck down India’s 157-year-old sodomy law, affirming the rights of LGBTQ+ Indians to equality and dignity. Katju also served as one of the lead counsels in the 2023 challenge for marriage equality before the Supreme Court.

Since founding her own chambers in 2011, Katju has built a distinguished practice representing clients before India’s highest courts and tribunals. Her work spans white-collar defense, arbitration, and a broad range of appellate matters, including bankruptcy, tax, employment, sports, and administrative law. In addition to her commercial practice, she represents indigent clients through the Delhi High Court Legal Services Committee and has served as amicus curiae to both the Supreme Court of India and the Delhi High Court. She also advises lawyers across the Global South on advancing LGBTQ+ rights.

Katju’s leadership and advocacy have earned her national and international acclaim. She was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in 2019, served as a Grand Marshal of the New York Pride Parade in 2021, received the Jefferson Medal in Law from the University of Virginia in 2023, and was honored with FICCI’s Young Achievers Award in 2024.

A graduate of the National Law School of India University (BA LLB Hons.), Katju holds an LLM from Columbia Law School, where she was a Human Rights Fellow and Herman N. Finkelstein Memorial Fellow. She later served as a Senior Fellow at Columbia’s Center for Contemporary Critical Thought. A sought-after speaker, she has addressed audiences at the Oxford Union, the United Nations, and TEDx, and her writings have appeared in Foreign Affairs, The Times of India, The Indian Express, and Mint.