When Neha Chugh moved to Cornwall, she felt there was no space for her here. With grit and determination, she created one for herself—and others.
According to Neha, her “tiger mom” really wanted her to become a prosecutor like Jack McCoy on the show “Law and Order”. Instead, she became a criminal defence lawyer and opened Chugh Law in Cornwall in 2014. Since then, she has grown the firm into the biggest barrister practice in the city. In an industry that has longstanding issues of recognizing the value of young, racialized women in leadership roles, her success as a 39-year-old woman of South Asian descent is a coup.
Neha is headstrong in making space for other young people of colour in a “greying bar” in Cornwall. She serves as a reminder to many of what is possible. She’s attracted other young lawyers to join her at her firm. In terms of a contribution to the community, this means more youthful energy and modern legal ideas.
But if that weren’t enough, Neha also approaches her job differently—from a place of compassion. Her deep knowledge of the law may get her through the procedural issues, but it’s her bachelor’s degree in social work and her master’s in community development that informs her approach to helping those who need it most.
“I don’t do ‘happy law’. When clients come to me, they are usually affected by a multiplicity of factors such as family breakdown, addiction, mental health crisis, illness—basically all the environmental, social, and familial factors you can think of,” she says. “I see people on the worst days of their lives. But I also see so much resilience and so much capacity for change. That’s kind of my engine, the gas in my tank.”
Neha admits she isn’t always able to get a verdict of “not guilty” because that really “isn’t in the cards for everyone.” But she will do her damndest to fight for the right outcome.
Her penchant for advocating for the vulnerable has also led her to serve on the board of the Centre York Centre, a safe setting for visits and exchanges for families experiencing difficulties, and the Coalition for Unity, Respect & Equity/Equality for All (CUREA), an organization committed to public education, awareness, and prevention of racial injustice and systemic racism in Cornwall and area. She is on the Standard Freeholder‘s community editorial board and regularly pens pieces on current affairs including diversity, racism, and access to justice.
The mother of three young children also chronicles her personal and professional life on Twitter. While her work-related posts are mostly serious, she provides great moments of levity when she writes about life at home: “Love is your partner flat ironing the back pieces of your hair.”
Her Twitter account—with more than 6,000 followers—allows Neha to state her views on important issues. But it’s also a platform to position herself—and others in her profession—as human.
“When I share about my family and my struggles at home, or when I crack a joke, what I’m trying to do is connect with other people in the community and to show that [lawyers] are people too,” she says. “If we want access to justice to be a priority, part of that is ensuring we as lawyers are humble, approachable, and that we understand what the community needs are.”
In the end, Neha’s career as a defence attorney is a bit different than the prosecutor role her mother originally pictured. Neha says her mom will never actually tell her she is proud, but she absolutely brags to her friends bout how her daughter blazes trails in the legal field and in the community.
Despite all her accomplishments, Neha says it’ll never be enough.
“No matter how successful I will be, I will also always be a racialized woman, and so I’ll always be five paces behind,” she says. “I just have to continue forging on and reminding myself of how much I enjoy being a leader.”
