When Judge Sabita Singh recently presided over a case tried by public defender Radha Natarajan, one of a small number of South Asian litigators in Massachusetts, Singh couldn't help but feel the need to step in and help the attorney when law enforcement officials she was questioning became hostile.

"Look at [Natarajan], she's tiny, and these [witnesses] were these big, broad guys who became borderline hostile, borderline disrespectful. And part of me wanted to step in and help her," said Singh, who added that seeing powerful South Asian lawyers practicing in her courtroom is "an incredible experience."

But Singh restrained herself. "I thought, what would that do to her credibility?" she said. "And so I didn't do anything."

Both Singh and Natarajan participated in the panel discussion, "South Asian Lawyers in the Public Eye," as part of the 17th annual Network of Indian Professionals, or NetIP, conference, a national event held Aug. 29-31 at the Renaissance Waterfront Hotel in Boston. Other panelists included: Manisha Bhatt, senior attorney for Greater Boston Legal Services; Tejal Mehta, assistant district attorney at the Middlesex County district attorney's office; and Anuradha Yadav, a corporate attorney based in Atlanta.

Panelists agreed that South Asians are not well represented in the American legal community. "A lot of times when I walk into court, the first thing they ask me is if I'm the interpreter," Natarajan said.

Natarajan offered an ominous forecast for the South Asian community, predicting that in coming years, an increasing number of Indian Americans will channel through the American criminal justice system. "As the first generation of Indian Americans, we don't see many [South Asians] in court," she said. "But if you look at immigration trends, I think we'll see a lot more [Indians] in the criminal justice system, especially for domestic violence and drug addiction — crimes that aren't necessarily directly correlated to living in poverty."

Panelists also agreed that it can often be difficult to separate their careers from their personal lives. "It's impossible for me to step back from my cases," said Natarajan. "It's what I live, it's what I breathe. When you're the only voice [for a defendant], and you're the one that stands between them and a conviction or a long prison sentence, the stakes are so high. And the responsibility is overwhelming."

 Singh said that the intense media scrutiny surrounding the case of young English au pair Louise Woodward, which she worked on as a state prosecutor, opened her career up to both her family and the Indian American community at large. "It was all over the news and everybody got a direct view of what I was doing," Singh said. "And I was amazed by the number of South Asians that called me asking for legal representation. I thought, •I'm a prosecutor, why are they calling me?' But I think to see a South Asian in that role, well, I was the only person they knew to call. It made me realize all the barriers to people getting legal representation in this country, especially in the immigrant communities."

Bhatt echoed Singh's comments, noting that the need for legal representation among immigrants extends beyond criminal offenses to civil litigation like immigration, housing and family law.

 "A lot of the people that we work with [at Greater Boston Legal Services] are from immigrant communities, and it's so important to me that these people are not marginalized and have access to justice," Bhatt said. "It's rewarding to insure that people from your own community have access to legal representation."

Access to legal representation for Indian Americans can be particularly difficult to assure, panelists said, because many Indians lack family and a support structure in the area. Singh relayed the story of an Indian student living in the Boston area charged with stabbing his professor over a disagreement with a grade on his thesis a few years ago. The student's family approached Mehta, a prosecutor, in the hallways of court one day desperate for legal representation for their son. Mehta sent out a mass e-mail that evening to fellow attorneys in the South Asian Bar Association in an effort to find an attorney for the student.

"There she was, a prosecutor, from the very same office that was trying the case, helping the accused student find an attorney," Singh said. The student ultimately agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a four- to five-year prison term, Mehta said.

Asked if it was difficult working as an attorney with the additional societal factors South Asians sometimes encounter, such as pressure to get married, panelists largely dodged the question, with Singh noting that most of the panel members were single. But audience member Ritu Singh, a Pittsburgh-based intellectual property attorney, said the pressures can be strong. "I do think there is a lot more pressure for South Asians in general. It's a constant thought," Singh, 27, said. "I just bought a townhouse, and the first thing my mom said is, •That's great, now when are you going to get married and have kids?'"

But Singh argued that being South Asian and working in the legal profession does have its benefits. "Since there so few of us, you get noticed wherever you go." she said. "People tend to remember us, and usually that's a good thing."

Panelists agreed that their political affiliations haven't played a significant role in their careers. "Plus, in Massachusetts, everyone's a Democrat anyway," Natarajan joked.