800-951-4888 x7538
raj.marphatia@ropesgray.com

I was born and raised in Bombay, India. I first came to the U.S. when I was 17 years old, as a Rotary high school exchange student. I completed my senior year of high school in Jefferson, Iowa, a small 4,000 person farming community. Needless to say, I fit right in (not!), but the warmth and kindness of my host families made the transition to a new culture and country as smooth as it could be. I had such a wonderful time that I wasn’t ready to return to India at the end of my exchange student year. I took the SAT and applied to colleges together with my Jefferson Community High School classmates. Much to my delight, I was admitted to college. The next four years were a continuation of my excellent adventure, and my family gave up all hope of getting me to return to India.

After graduating from college, I worked as a tax accountant for three years at KPMG Peat Marwick in Boston. I soon grew tired of preparing tax returns and decided to switch professions. The move was fortunate in many ways. Most important, I met my wife, who is also from India and was enrolled in a Ph.D. program, while I was in law school. We were married when I graduated, and we spent the next year in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where I clerked for Judge Torruella of the First Circuit. We had an idyllic year, checking out many sensational Caribbean beaches and learning to habla un pocito de español. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and we returned to Boston at the end of my clerkship year so my wife could complete her Ph.D.

Much to my chagrin, that was over 15 years ago! The intervening years have flown by. We now have two daughters, ages 15 and 12, who are a constant source of entertainment and definitely keep us on our toes. We are now deeply rooted in the Boston area, and have found it a wonderful place to live and raise a family, although I spent last year in our Silicon Valley office while my wife was on sabbatical at Stanford.

I am delighted that the number of attorneys of color at Ropes has sharply increased in my time here, and hope that we can continue to grow our community in years to come.

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