Photo of Dakshina H. Chetti

Dakshïna (Shïna) Chetti is an associate in the Litigation Department.

As a member of the Intellectual Property Litigation Group, Shïna works on a broad range of disputes, including false-advertising and copyright matters, as well as trademark, trade secret, and patent litigation. She is also a member of the firm’s Commercial Litigation Practice, and has successfully represented both domestic and international clients in high-stakes matters spanning a variety of industries, including life sciences, healthcare, real estate, financial services, and other domains.

Shïna also maintains a robust pro bono practice; she has drafted an amicus brief in support of sentencing and drug-related custody reforms in the state of California, and worked extensively on a range of criminal justice reform matters, including the representation of a death row inmate, parole appearances and administrative appeals in the state of New York, and child custody arrears. Beyond her pro bono practice, Shïna is also a frequent contributor to Proskauer’s advertising law blog, Proskauer on Advertising, and commercial litigation blog, Minding Your Business.

Shïna earned her J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she was a James Kent scholar and Harlan Fiske Stone scholar, as well as a member of the Columbia Law Women’s Association (CLWA) and Empowering Women of Color (EWOC.) While at Columbia, she worked as a Writing Center Fellow and as a teaching assistant for first-year Property Law and Patent Law classes. Shïna also interned at the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts, working intellectual property and arts issues. Prior to law school, she interned as a Fellow for the New York State Assembly (69th District), at the office of Assembly Member Daniel J. O'Donnell.

Shïna holds a B.A. in Medieval and Early Modern English Literature, summa cum laude, from Columbia University.

A welcome change may be afoot for New York lawmakers, as New York Senate Bill S5162 recently passed the Senate and Assembly judiciary committees. The bill, which may soon be delivered to the Governor for signature, would amend CPLR 2106 to streamline the civil action process, ending the current notarization requirement to allow anyone to sign an affirmation sworn under penalty of perjury in place of an affidavit in a civil action within the state. Specifically, S5162 would amend CPLR 2106 to read as follows: