Meet Sonal Darber ’25, LLM Program

Sonal Darber grew up in Mumbai, India. She began studying law in 2017 at Rizvi Law College, which is affiliated with Mumbai University, earning her license to practice law in India in 2020. Darber is pursuing an LLM in Transnational Business Practice at McGeorge School of Law and will graduate in December.

“Becoming a lawyer has been my dream since childhood,” she said. “I come from a community where women are not encouraged to pursue higher education, work outside the home or travel independently.”

She is a first-generation student who decided to study law to stand up for herself and for others.

“My mother never went to school, and my father studied only until the third grade,” Darber said. Because of that, I had very limited guidance throughout my academic and professional journey and I had to figure things out on my own.”

She is the first lawyer in my family and her community as well as the first to travel abroad to pursue a master’s degree. According to her, the experience has been overwhelming, life-changing, exciting, and motivating all at once.

“This is my first time away from my family, my first time traveling abroad, and my first time studying in such a diverse classroom,” she said.

She said in India, she already has numerous commercial clients so her degree will help her expand her cliental further. Adding that if she returns to India, this specialization will allow her to attract more international and commercial clients.

“When I explored McGeorge’s website, I was impressed by the videos, the diversity on campus and a webinar I attended with Assistant Director, Graduate and International Programs, Adriana Aguena, who left a strong impression on me,” she said.

Additionally, she was offered a generous scholarship so McGeorge seemed like the perfect choice in a law school.

“I feel grateful for the opportunities I have received, and I hope my journey inspires other students especially women from underrepresented communities to pursue their dreams fearlessly, no matter the challenges,” Darber said. “On multiple occasions, my plans failed, but each time they were replaced with better opportunities.”