James Sutton

Adjunct Professor Sutton is a life-long Californian.  Born and raised in Los Angeles, he received his B.A. degree cum laude from Pomona College in 1984, and then moved north to attend Stanford Law School, where he graduated in 1988.  At Stanford, he was an Assistant Managing Editor for the Law Review and a Moot Court finalist.

Adjunct Professor Sutton has had a life-long interest in California politics, starting with a high school internship in his State Assemblyman's office, followed by a position with the Deukmejian for Governor campaign, and culminating in a legal clerkship with California Supreme Court Justice Edward Panelli.  He now prides himself on being one of the few registered Republicans living and working in San Francisco.

He has combined his interest in working with politics with his training in law, as one of the handful of attorneys in the state who specializes in election, campaign and ethics law.  He runs his own firm, where his clients include candidates, ballot measure committees, PACs, lobbyists, nonprofit organizations, and corporations.  He has appeared before the Federal Elections Commission, California Fair Political Practices Commission, and San Francisco, San Diego, Oakland, and Los Angeles Ethics Commissions.  He has served as President of the California Political Attorneys Association and Board member of the State Bar's Nonprofit Corporation Committee.  He joined the Hastings faculty as an Adjunct Professor in 1996.

He and his wife Victoria are involved in several political and charitable organizations in the City, and keep busy raising their three children.