Deepak Gupta
202.888.1741 | 2001 K Street, NW, Suite 850 North, Washington, DC 20006
Deepak Gupta is the founding principal of Gupta Wessler LLP and a lecturer at Harvard Law School, where he teaches the Harvard Supreme Court Litigation Clinic.
Deepak represents plaintiffs in high-stakes appeals. Trial lawyers across the country enlist him to defend their most significant victories, or revive worthy claims, in class actions, MDLs, and individual cases—including some of the nation’s largest jury verdicts.
Over more than two decades, Deepak has led appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court, all thirteen federal circuits, and numerous state supreme courts, with a focus on ensuring access to justice for consumers, workers, investors, and communities harmed by corporate or governmental misconduct. He has also testified before the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court.
His appellate practice spans antitrust, civil rights, consumer and worker protection, products liability, securities fraud, torts, and constitutional law, and often involves cross-cutting issues such as arbitration, class certification, preemption, and punitive damages. He has worked with an equally wide range of clients and co-counsel, including leading plaintiffs’ firms, nonprofits, labor unions, public officials, and artists, scholars, and athletes.
Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy
In 2025, the National Law Journal observed that Deepak “has steadily become a mainstay of the Supreme Court lectern and the go-to advocate for consumers and other plaintiffs with cases before the justices.”
Deepak founded Gupta Wessler in 2012 to serve as a counterweight to the corporate dominance of the Supreme Court and appellate bar. Over the past decade, the firm has established itself with an unmatched record of wins in the U.S. Supreme Court and in state and federal courts nationwide.
Over the past two terms alone, the firm had seven oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, presented by all four of the firm’s principals. Only four other law firms–all large corporate defense firms–had as many arguments. Gupta Wessler had the highest win rate (71%) of any firm in that elite group. All told, the firm’s lawyers have argued more than thirty U.S. Supreme Court cases.
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In the 2024-2025 term, the firm had four arguments before the Court. Deepak presented three of those arguments and achieved the rare feat of securing two post-argument dismissals for respondents—in Labcorp v. Davis (on class certification and standing) and NVIDIA v. Ohman (on pleading standards for securities fraud).
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In the 2023-24 term, the firm had three arguments before the Court, winning two–including unanimously defeating sweeping federal preemption of state consumer law in Cantero v. Bank of America.
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Deepak argued and won a landmark victory for access to justice in Ford Motor Co. v. Montana Eighth Judicial District, in which the Court ruled that people injured by mass-market products can establish personal jurisdiction to sue corporations where their injury occurred, bucking a decades-long trend of jurisdiction-limiting jurisprudence.
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In Smith v. Berryhill, Deepak argued at the Court’s invitation in support of a judgment left undefended by the Solicitor General. He is the first Asian-American to be appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court to argue a case.
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In 2017, Deepak prevailed in Expressions Hair Design v. Schneiderman, successfully arguing a First Amendment challenge to a law designed to keep consumers in the dark about the cost of credit cards.
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Deepak argued AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, a watershed case on corporations’ use of forced arbitration to prevent consumers and workers from banding together to seek justice.
Defending the Nation’s Largest Verdicts on Appeal
Deepak is consistently entrusted by the nation’s top trial lawyers to defend their most significant victories. Recent highlights include:
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Reinstating a landmark nine‑figure verdict against Monsanto in the Washington Supreme Court, protecting $1.6 billion in verdicts for schoolteachers and students exposed to PCB “forever” chemicals.
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Securing the Nevada Supreme Court’s affirmance of a $200 million bad‑faith verdict against UnitedHealthcare for denying lifesaving cancer treatment.
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Winning a partial affirmance of an $83 million verdict for musician Flo Rida against Celsius in the Florida Supreme Court.
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Currently defending multiple nine‑ and eight‑figure verdicts across the country, including a $360 million verdict for survivors of sexual abuse at a psychiatric hospital in Virginia; a $114 million insurance bad‑faith verdict against USAA in Nevada; and a $90 million punitive‑damages verdict against Liberty Mutual in Massachusetts.
Class Actions, Constitutional Litigation, and Civil Justice Policy
Deepak also designs and prosecutes select class actions and high-profile constitutional challenges. Highlights include:
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Constitutional and administrative law: Deepak represents Gwynne Wilcox in her challenge to President Trump’s unprecedented attempt to remove her from the National Labor Relations Board (Wilcox v. Trump) and plaintiffs seeking to prevent the dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (National Treasury Employees Union et al v. Vought). In both cases, Deepak and his colleagues secured injunctions against unlawful executive action and are defending those injunctions on appeal.
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In the first Trump Administration, he secured a rare D.C. Circuit injunction halting the government takeover of an internet‑freedom nonprofit; represented environmental groups in a successful challenge to a midnight EPA rule; represented the Governor of Montana in a case establishing that the BLM’s Acting Director had served in violation of the Appointments Clause; and served as lead counsel in litigation challenging the President’s financial conflicts under the Constitution’s Emoluments Clauses.
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Civil justice policy: Deepak serves as outside counsel to the American Association for Justice on Supreme Court matters and issues before Congress and federal agencies. He also advises state trial lawyer associations on threats to civil justice—including those spearheaded by Uber. Recent litigation victories include defeating Uber’s ballot initiative to cap attorneys’ fees at 20% in the Nevada Supreme Court and defending the First Amendment rights of Consumer Attorneys of California against Uber’s attempt to enjoin its political advertising. He is also litigating constitutional challenges to damages caps in multiple state supreme courts.
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Class actions: Deepak is lead counsel in a nationwide class action in which he persuaded the Federal Circuit that the federal judiciary has been charging people millions of dollars in unlawful fees for online access to court records. The case recently culminated in a $125 million settlement that reimburses the majority of PACER users 100 cents on the dollar. Deepak previously served as lead counsel for all of the nation’s bankruptcy judges, recovering $56 million for Congress’s violation of the Judicial Compensation Clause. The American Lawyer observed: “it’s hard to imagine a higher compliment than being hired to represent federal judges.”
Recognition
Deepak’s work has earned numerous honors, including:
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2025 Appellate MVP of the Year (Law360)
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2025 Consumer Advocate of the Year (Nevada Justice Association)
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2025 Special Recognition Award (Consumer Action)
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2022 Appellate Advocacy Award (National Civil Justice Institute)
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2021 Steven J. Sharpe Award for Public Service (AAJ)
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President’s Award (National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges)
He has been described as “a skilled appellate lawyer” (New York Times), “an all‑star progressive Supreme Court litigator” (Washington Post), “one of the emerging giants of the appellate and Supreme Court bar,” (Law360) and a “progressive legal rock star” (New York Law Journal). Chambers USA praises his “impressive” and “highly rated appellate practice,” calling him “an incredible oral advocate” who “writes terrific briefs.” He is consistently ranked among Washingtonian’s “Best Lawyers” for Supreme Court cases—the only non‑corporate lawyer on that list.
Career Background
Before founding Gupta Wessler in 2012, Deepak served as Senior Counsel at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where, as the first appellate litigator hired under Elizabeth Warren, he launched the agency’s amicus program and worked with the Solicitor General’s office on Supreme Court cases. He previously spent seven years at Public Citizen Litigation Group, where he founded the Consumer Justice Project and was the Alan Morrison Supreme Court Assistance Project Fellow. He also worked on voting rights at the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice; prisoners’ rights at the ACLU’s National Prison Project; and religious freedom at Americans United for Separation of Church and State. He clerked for Judge Lawrence K. Karlton of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California and studied law at Georgetown, Sanskrit at Oxford, and philosophy at Fordham.
Institutional Leadership
Deepak is a member of the American Law Institute and the Administrative Conference of the United States and serves on the boards of the National Consumer Law Center, the Alliance for Justice, the National Plaintiffs Law Association, the Open Markets Institute, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the People’s Parity Project, the Civil Justice Research Initiative at UC Berkeley, and the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies. He also serves on AAJ’s legal affairs committee, Public Justice’s class action preservation committee, and as a judge for the American Constitution Society’s annual Cudahy Writing Competition. He was a member of the Practitioners Committee of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court.
Publications and Media Appearances
Deepak’s publications include Arbitration as Wealth Transfer, 5 Yale L. & Pol’y Rev. 499 (2017) (with Lina Khan), Leveling the Playing Field on Appeal: The Case for a Plaintiff-Side Appellate Bar, 54 Duq. L. Rev. 383 (2016), and The Consumer Protection Bureau and the Constitution, 65 Admin L. Rev. 945 (2013), as well as shorter pieces for The New York Times, SCOTUSblog, and Trial magazine. He is regularly quoted on the Supreme Court in national media and has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, FOX News, ABC’s World News and Good Morning America, and NPR’s All Things Considered and Marketplace.
