Gautam Dutta

A Yale and Georgetown-educated lawyer, Gautam Dutta specializes in corporate, securities, regulatory/public entity, election, and voting rights law.

Mr. Dutta has been an enforcement attorney for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), tax counsel to California State Controller John Chiang, a commercial litigator at the Los Angeles firm of Buchalter Nemer, and law clerk for a federal judge in Washington, D.C.

Between 2007 and 2010, Mr. Dutta was Deputy Director of the Political Reform Program at the New America Foundation. That program educated opinion leaders and the public about electoral alternatives (including Instant Runoff Voting and Proportional Representation). In this capacity, Mr. Dutta worked closely with the Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Pasadena City Councils. Last spring, Mr. Dutta wrote an amicus brief in federal court that successfully defended San Francisco’s innovative Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) system. Furthermore, he drafted and spearheaded legislative strategy for IRV bills in both the California Senate and Assembly.

Throughout his career, Mr. Dutta has played a prominent role in civic affairs. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appointed him to the position of commissioner on the Los Angeles Industrial Development Authority, which he served in from 2006 to 2007. Between 2005 and 2010, Mr. Dutta served on the Board of the American Civil Liberties Union (Southern California), where he was elected to the Executive Board. Mr. Dutta currently serves as Executive Director of Asian American Action Fund, a national political organization.

A prolific writer and political commentator, Mr. Dutta has been featured and quoted in top media outlets, including Los Angeles Daily News, Boston Globe, Associated Press, Huffington Post, Politico, and AAA-Fund Blog (of which he is Publisher).


In Washington, D.C., Mr. Dutta was President of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association Educational Fund, as well as Vice Chair of the District of Columbia’s Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs. He was Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Political Monthly, and is fluent in Spanish, German, Hindi, and Bengali.

Mr. Dutta received his undergraduate degree in economics and German literature from Yale University and his law degree from Georgetown University. He is a member of the State Bar of California, the South Asian Bar Association, and the Asian Pacific American Bar Association.