Lucas Guttentag is a national expert on immigration law and immigrants’ rights litigation. He is the founder and former national director of the American Civil Liberties Union Immigrants’ Rights Project, which he led from 1985 to 2011. He has litigated complex civil rights, class action, and constitutional cases in courts throughout the United States, including successfully arguing in the Supreme Court. In 2017, he returned to Stanford Law after serving in the Obama administration, most recently as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson.

Professor Guttentag’s writings focus on the intersection of civil rights and immigration law. He is a member of the American Law Institute, was named a Human Rights Hero by the ABA Human Rights journal, Appellate Lawyer of the Year by California Lawyer magazine, awarded an honorary degree by CUNY Law School, and is widely recognized by national and community-based organizations for his leadership in the field of immigration law and immigrants’ rights. Professor Guttentag joined the Stanford faculty in 2014 as Professor of the Practice. He also teaches at Yale Law School, where he is Robina Foundation Distinguished Senior Fellow. Before joining the ACLU, he clerked for federal district judge William Wayne Justice in Texas, practiced civil rights law in Los Angeles, and taught at Columbia Law School.