Sharmila Murthy

Biography

Sharmila L. Murthy is a Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Since 2010, she has been helping to spearhead the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation Program. Her current research reflects her long-standing interests in issues at the intersection of human rights, poverty and the environment. Prior to joining the Carr Center, she practiced law with a focus on economic, social and cultural rights. As a Skadden Fellow at the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, she represented immigrants, refugees and other individuals from poor and marginalized communities primarily in housing and consumer cases; she also created the Refugee and Immigrant Partnership Project for Legal Empowerment. She then joined Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP to litigate national class action cases in the subprime mortgage and natural resource sectors. Prior to graduate school, she also worked for an environmental consulting firm and spent nearly two years working in India in public health and in microfinance.

Sharmila received her JD from Harvard Law School in 2003, her MPA from Harvard Kennedy School in 2003, and her BS in Natural Resources from Cornell University in 1997. She clerked for the Honorable Martha Craig Daughtrey on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (2003-2004). She has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in India (1998); Betty Allebach Award for Public Service at Harvard Legal Aid Bureau (2003); New Advocate of the Year award by the Tennessee Alliance of Legal Services (2006); Article of the Year Award by Nashville Bar Journal (2006); and Pegasus Scholarship by American Inns of Court (2009). She was a Fellow in the Impact Center's Women's Leadership Program (2011) and is currently a member of the Emerging Leaders in Environmental & Energy Policy Network, which is a joint project of the Atlantic Council and the Ecologic Institute. She has also served in leadership roles with several civic and non-profit organizations, including the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. She is currently the Steering Committee Co-Chair of the Boston Chapter of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy.