Lucas Guttentag is Professor of the Practice of Law. He is one of the nation’s leading experts on immigration law and the rights of non-citizens with a career that spans litigation, academia, and government. Guttentag founded the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Immigrants’ Rights Project (IRP) in 1985 and led it for twenty-five years, establishing it as the country’s premiere immigrant justice litigation organization. He litigated complex class action and appellate cases on behalf of refugees and noncitizens at every level of the federal judiciary throughout the United States for three decades. Guttentag has served in senior policy positions in the Obama administration at the Department of Homeland Security, and in the Biden administration at the Department of Justice.  His scholarly and public writings focus on immigration, civil rights, and public policy.  Guttentag regularly advises advocates, NGO’s, philanthropies, and governmental entities. In 2017, he created the Immigration Policy Tracking Project, a dynamic website profiled in the New Yorker and New York Times that tracks every Trump-era immigration policy.

Guttentag has successfully argued major cases in the United States Supreme Court, the California Supreme Court, and many trial and appellate courts throughout the country. He has testified before Congress, speaks widely on immigration issues, has contributed to and is regularly cited in national print and electronic media, and has written for academic and general audience publications. He has served on or advised the presidential transition teams for the Clinton, Obama, and Biden administrations.  Guttentag was honored as the inaugural Human Rights Hero by the ABA Human Rights Journal and awarded an honorary degree from CUNY Law School. He has been named appellate lawyer of the year by California Lawyer magazine, one of the 500 Leading Lawyers in America by Lawdragon, litigator of the year by the American Immigration Lawyers Association four times, and honored by many national and community-based organizations for his litigation and leadership.  He is a member of the American Law Institute (ALI) and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.  Before joining the ACLU, he practiced civil rights law in Los Angeles, taught at Columbia Law School, and served as law clerk to federal judge William Wayne Justice in Texas.  He is an honors graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and of Harvard Law School.

In the fall, Prof. Guttentag teaches at Yale Law School where he is Martin R. Flug Lecturer in Law and Senior Research Scholar.