Aditya Pai
Summary
Aditya Pai is a 32-year-old public servant and practicing attorney for entrepreneurs, workers, and low-income tenants in need of pro bono help.
Pai is a 2024 Democratic candidate for United States Representative for CA-45 (Artesia, Cerritos, north Orange County). His platform is Service Over Politics: 1. Fight corruption and dysfunction in DC 2.Focus on constituent service to hard-working families here in OC.
He is running on his record of public service, including three years of youth organizing at the Orange County Red Cross, over 2,000 hours of pro bono civil legal aid to low-income clients, and current board and leadership roles with Dev/Mission, the Dreier Roundtable, and Habitat for Humanity Orange County.
Pai has also volunteered for the Democratic Party of Orange County(’08), Sukhee Kang for Irvine Mayor (’08), Gavin Newsom (’09), and staffed Steve Bullock for Montana Governor (’12) and Alyse Galvin for Congress (Alaska at-large, ’18).
Pai was born in Bombay and raised in Orange County, where he grew up speaking Hindi and Marathi at home and Spanish and English at school. He is a resident of Brea, CA, from where he will bring the voices of middle class families across CA-45 to Congress.
Experience
April 2023 - Present (9 months)
April 2023 - Present (9 months)
Service over politics.
Issues over partisan identity.
Focus on two: (1) end corruption in DC (2) tackle the crisis of affordability in OC.
CA-45 includes Artesia, Cerritos, Hawaiian Gardens, La Palma, Rossmoor, Los Alamitos, Cypress, Buena Park, Fountain Valley, Garden Grove, Westminster, Brea (where I live), parts of Fullerton, and Placentia.
Rutan & Tucker, LLP
August 2018 - Present (5 years 5 months)
Trial attorney in private practice, both firm (Rutan 2021-22; Morgan Lewis 2018-19) and solo practitioner (2020, 2021), representing small and medium sized California businesses, workers, and entrepreneurs in employment, housing/construction, and infrastructure matters.
Notable representations:
- Second-chaired $30-40mm arbitration arising out of large-scale solar project development in Southern California; third-chaired $100mm arbitration hearing on behalf of public-private bridge development. Rutan & Tucker LLP.
- Represented prominent California state agency in transportation and infrastructure-related matters. Rutan & Tucker LLP.
- Counseled major retail client across multiple counties in interpreting and following state wage-and-hour law and worker protections. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.
- Advised firm on entitlement approval of veterans affordable housing project; pro bono rep. of low-income workers seeking pandemic unemployment assistance (2020-21). Solo.
Habitat for Humanity of Orange County
May 2022 - Present (1 year 8 months)
Counsel staff and CEO on legal issues; assist in search and evaluation ofpotential land acquisitions in O.C.; volunteer labor on construction sites.
Dreier Roundtable
July 2022 - Present (1 year 6 months)
Board Adviser to former Congressman David Dreier’s initiative to improve public discourse.
Dev/Mission
January 2022 - Present (2 years)
Workshop Leader. Lead quarterly “Telling Your Story” trainings on cover letter writing, elevator pitches, and job interviews for 18-24 year-old low-income young adults pursuing STEM careers.
Urban Land Institute
January 2022 - December 2022 (1 year)
Named Under 35 Young Leader. Selected as rising young professional in construction industry.
Harvard University
September 2015 - May 2017 (1 year 9 months)
2 years of directed research & writing under Nobel Laureate in Economics Amartya Sen, including 100+ pages of supervisor-reviewed writing in intellectual history, poverty policy, economics, economic philosophy, constitutional law, and ethical theory.
Harvard Legal Aid Bureau
August 2015 - September 2016 (1 year 2 months)
Represented low-income Spanish and English-speaking clients in all aspects of legal eviction proceedings in Boston Housing Court and the Department of Unemployment Assistance.
Co-authored amicus brief in support of fair housing/anti-discrimination disparate impact suit in MA Supreme Judicial Court
Bay Area Legal Aid
June 2016 - August 2016 (3 months)
California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.
July 2015 - August 2015 (2 months)
Sehgal Foundation
May 2015 - July 2015 (3 months)
Studiopi2 Inc.
June 2013 - Present (3 months)
Worked for my mom's small business in various roles, 2004-present: Web design & development (Part-Time, 2004-6); marketing and sales (Full-Time, summer 2013); Legal and strategic counsel (Part-Time; 2017-present).
Rose Institute of State and Local Government
September 2009 - March 2013 (3 years 7 months)
Managed 30 research assistants in four areas of research: fiscal, legal, redistricting, and demographics. Coordinated annual six-figure budget with Senior Staff. Oversaw recruitment, hiring/firing, marketing, and development. As Girard Fellow, collected, analyzed, and mapped San Diego county fiscal, elections, and demographic data from 1990-2010 and co-wrote summary of findings (published in nationally-recognized Voice of San Diego newspaper).
Steve Bullock for Montana Governor
June 2012 - August 2012 (3 months)
United States Senate
December 2011 - January 2012 (2 months)
Code for America
June 2011 - August 2011 (3 months)
Education
University of Cambridge
Harvard Law School
Claremont McKenna College
