Ashwin P. Phatak, Esq., is the Principal Deputy Solicitor General for the District of Columbia in the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia (OAG). He helps to oversee appellate litigation for the District government in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Mr. Phatak has supervised over 1,000 cases and has argued several high-profile matters. His practice covers all aspects of District law, including consumer protection, constitutional law, employment law, tax, criminal law, and administrative law.

Before joining the OAG, Mr. Phatak was an appellate counsel at the Constitutional Accountability Center, a non-profit in Washington, D.C. He also served as an attorney-adviser in the Office of Legal Counsel at the United States Department of Justice.

Mr. Phatak is a member of the American Law Institute, the Edward Coke Appellate Inn of Court, and the D.C. Circuit’s Advisory Committee on Procedures. He also volunteers as a mentor with The Appellate Project.

Mr. Phatak received his Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from Tufts University, and his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Patricia A. Millett on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for the Honorable Beverly B. Martin on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.