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Dr. Patel has begun a series of undertakings called the Mindful Law Project, which aims to develop social & legal thought through the thought of Gandhi and the insights of meditative & contemplative traditions. His current projects involve applications of Gandhi’s thought to environmental justice and to LGBTQ civil rights. His projects further the inclusion of non-western thought in academic inquiry & the liberal arts. Currently, he is interested in connecting recent research on mindfulness meditation & consciousness to social & legal theory. He also is interested in multi-method scholarship and has used several research methodologies: experimental, quantitative, qualitative interview, document/text & film analysis, and case method.

Patel, Nehal A. “Why Lawyers Fear Love: Mohandas Gandhi’s Significance to the Mindfulness In Law Movement.” British Journal of American Legal Studies, Volume 4, 2015.

Patel, Nehal A. “Mindful Justice: The Search for Gandhi’s Sympathetic State After Bhopal.” Social Justice Research, Volume 28, Issue 3, 2015.

Patel, Nehal A., & Ksenia Petlakh. “Gandhi’s Nightmare: Bhopal and the Need For A Mindful Jurisprudence.” Harvard Journal on Racial and Ethnic Justice, Volume 30, 2014.

Patel, Nehal A., & Lauren Vella. “A Mindful Environmental Jurisprudence?: Speculations on the application of Gandhi’s Thought to MCWC v. Nestle.” Pace Environmental Law Review, Volume 30, Number 3, Summer 2013.

University of Michigan-Dearborn Distinguished Teaching Award (Non-Tenure), 2013

Research Interests

Thought of Gandhi; Non-Western Social Theory; Critical Legal Theory; Gender, Sexuality & Law; Law & Activism; Cultural Studies in Meditation & Mindfulness