Upendra Baxi is a legal scholar, and was a professor at the University of Warwick School of Law from 2005 to 2008. He has been the vice-chancellor of University of Delhi (1990-1994), prior to which he held the position of professor of law at the same university for 23 years (1973-1996). He has also served as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of South Gujarat, Surat, India (1982-1985). In 2011 he was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, by the Government of India.

Upendra Baxi holds an LLB from Rajkot (Gujarat) University, holds an LLM degree from the University of Bombay, and holds both an LLM degree and an SJD degree from the University of California, Berkeley.