India

Man from Kerala rises from rolling beedis to become judge in US

On New Year’s Day, it was a dream come true for US-settled Keralite Surendran K. Pattel as he was sworn in as the judge of 240th Judicial District Court in Texas’ Fort Bend county.

District judges are chosen through elections in the US and Pattel, 51, defeated the sitting judge in the first round of the election to become the first Malayalee to be a district judge in the US.

Pattel’s path to the post was far from easy and was due to his determination, hard work, and the willing ..

He completed his further education and bachelor’s degree, while engaging in part time work including as a daily labourer so as to earn his livelihood, but never let it affect his studies.

After enrolling for LLB at a college in Kozhikode, he worked in a hotel and in 1995, he passed law and straight away entered into practising law.

Then came his marriage to Shubha, a nurse by profession and he moved base to Delhi and was practising at the Supreme Court.

In 2007, his wife got an opportunity to work in the US and he too joined her and since his passion was law, he, after working in a supermarket for a while, appeared for the Texas bar exam and cleared it.

He then got admission for the LL.M programme at the University of Houston Law Center, passed it with flying colours, and began work as a lawyer again. This New Year’s Day, he wrote himself into the record books.

AddThis Website Tools
IN Bureau

Recent Posts

“Are there two laws in this world?”: Former Union Minister MJ Akbar raise concern over global inaction, hypocrisy on terrorism

Former Union Minister MJ Akbar, part of the all-party delegation led by BJP MP Ravi…

5 hours ago

PM Modi meets Australian Dy PM Marles; lauds 5 years of Strategic Partnership

New Delhi [India], June 4 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Australian Deputy Prime…

5 hours ago

Relentless in Adversity: Indian Army leads search, rescue operations in North Sikkim

In the aftermath of the devastating landslide that struck North Sikkim, the Indian Army has…

7 hours ago

Google pauses ‘Ask Photos’ AI Feature to address performance issues

In a move that has raised eyebrows in the tech community, Google has decided to…

7 hours ago

Australian Defence Minister Marles makes first ‘port of call’ at ‘chai’ stall in Delhi

Tapping into a typical Indian habit of starting one's day with tea, Australia's Deputy Prime…

8 hours ago

Paank slams Pakistan over extrajudicial killings in Balochistan; bodies of abducted found in Kalat

Paank condemns the extrajudicial killings of Samiullah, son of Muhammad Hanif, and Bismillah, son of…

8 hours ago