Joy Kanwar
Arthur Pinto & Stephen Bohlen Associate Dean of Inclusion & Diversity and Professor of Legal Writing
Professor Joy Kanwar is the recipient of the 2023 ALWD Diversity Award. Professor Kanwar is the Arthur Pinto & Stephen Bohlen Associate Dean of Inclusion & Diversity and a Professor of Legal Writing at Brooklyn Law School.
The Diversity Award honors a person who has made significant accomplishments in the area of DEI or has demonstrated a strong commitment to promoting DEI, including efforts to improve the status of historically underrepresented groups. ALWD created this award in furtherance of its continued commitment to contributing to a legal writing discipline that is equitable and inclusive. The meaningful inclusion of diverse voices and experiences is necessary for ALWD to succeed in its mission of improving legal education and the analytic, reasoning, and writing abilities of lawyers.
The beautifully written nomination of her colleagues, Heidi K. Brown and Irene Ten Cate, explains the DEI work that Prof. Kanwar has done as a legal writing colleague both in and outside of Brooklyn Law School, beginning prior to joining the legal academy. As a practicing attorney, Prof. Kanwar fought for the rights of the marginalized and underserved. In one instance, she represented a young Sikh man who was severely beaten by a group of white men in the first lawsuit of its kind seeking civil redress for his hospital bills and lost wages. She was also a founding board member of Legal Access Network for South Asians, a board member of the South Asian Bar Association of New York, and co-chair for the Issues Committee of the Asian American Bar Association of New York.
Furthermore, as a professor at Brooklyn Law School, her scholarship, service, and teaching interests coalesce around DEI. Her course assignments and activities thoughtfully weave tenets of belonging and wellness. Even before her appointment as DEI Associate Dean, she served as a resource for students and the faculty, planning and participating in events that highlight her care, passion, and expertise in the area of DEI. Her most recent scholarship explores questions about inclusion and exclusion in immigration and citizenship law raised by the 1923 Supreme Court decision in Thind v. United States. Prof. Kanwar penned a dissenting opinion on this case for the forthcoming book U.S. Feminist Judgments Project: Immigration Edition. Additionally, in an article recently published by the Mercer Law Review, titled Stories from the Negative Spaces: United States v. Thind and the Narrative of (Non) Whiteness, she explores stories that were left out of the reasoning in Thind, but that arguably could explain the decision itself.
Finally, Prof. Kanwar’s service outside of Brooklyn Law School shows her commitment to DEI efforts. Not only is she an active member of the W.A.R. (Writing as Resistance) Collective for Women of Color in Legal Writing and of the Asian American Legal Writing Professors Collective, but she has also made presentations at the Northeast People of Color Conference/Asian American Law Faculty Conference and one of the LWI’s One-Day Workshops, sharing her knowledge and insights about diversity issues in the legal profession.
