As a child, Hitarth Parikh learned a lot by watching and listening to his father, a practicing attorney, not only through his stories of the profession and his clients, but by witnessing his work ethic and desire to help others. Parikh has tried to emulate him in his own pursuit of a legal career.
“Growing up, I always felt the need to right the wrong,” says Parikh, who will begin his pursuit of an LL.M. at UNH Franklin Pierce in the fall. “My devotion towards justice has encouraged me to educate myself with the basics of law, not just as a subject but as a potential academic and career choice. My father used to discuss a lot of real-life circumstances of his own cases, which was a[nother] driving force towards choosing law as a career.”
A native of India, Parikh was recently selected as the 2022 recipient of the International Student Scholarship sponsored by Royzz and Co. The annual award provides one $5,000 scholarship to an international student admitted to the law school’s LL.M. program in intellectual property or its master in intellectual property program. Parikh wrote a 500-word essay as part of the application process.
Though already practicing as an associate in intellectual property law at Jahangir Gulabbhai & Bilimoria Daruwalla in Mumbai, India, Parikh felt that pursuing an American LL.M. would help him better understand and core concepts of IP law in the U.S., while gaining practical knowledge of application of IP laws in America and building a global network of colleagues.
“An LL.M. degree from the United States of America, a major economic player of the world, acts as a value addition in one’s career and life,” he says. “It also will be extremely useful in practice back at my home in India after completion of the course.”
Prior to deciding to acquire an American LL.M., Parikh earned a B.B.A.-LL.B.(Hons.) from the University of Mumbai Law Academy in 2020 and an LL.M. in intellectual property law at SVKM’s Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai in 2021. UNH Franklin Pierce appealed to him because of its strong reputation in IP law in the U.S. and around the world. He calls the opportunity to pursue a master’s degree in the U.S. a “joint dream of me and my family members, especially my father and grandfather, who dreamt this for me and have been my constant support to enable me in achieving this mutual goal.” He is thankful for them, and for those at the law school and at Royzz & Co. for their role in selecting him for the International Student Scholarship award.
“I am forever grateful to the law school and [Director of Graduate and International Admissions] Sarah Dorner for constantly encouraging me in this process and recommending me for these scholarships to the decision-makers,” says Parikh, who also received the Alumni Referral Scholarship award from UNHFP. “I’ll do my best to do justice to their expectations and achieve academic excellence.”
