Alan Gura is an American

litigator - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

practicing in the areas of

civil litigation Civil law is a major branch of the law.Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1982. p. 2. In common law legal systems such as England and Wales and the law of the United States, United States, the term refers to non ...

, appellate litigation, and

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...

law at Gura P.L.L.C. Gura successfully argued two landmark constitutional cases before the United States Supreme Court involving firearms, ''

District of Columbia v. Heller ''District of Columbia v. Heller'', 554 U.S. 570 (2008), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms, unconnected with service i ...

'' and ''

McDonald v. Chicago ''McDonald v. City of Chicago'', 561 U.S. 742 (2010), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that found that the right of an individual to "keep and bear arms", as protected under the Second Amendment, is incorporated b ...

''.

Early life and education

Gura was born in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and settled in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

with his family when he was seven years old. Gura received his BA from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 1992 and received his JD from the

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

in 1995.

Career

Prior to founding Gura & Possessky, PLLC, Gura began his career by serving as a law clerk to the Honorable Terrence W. Boyle, United States District Judge for the

Eastern District of North Carolina The United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina (in case citations, E.D.N.C.) is the United States district court that serves the eastern 44 counties in North Carolina. Appeals from the Eastern District of North Caroli ...

. Subsequently, as a Deputy Attorney General for the State of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, Gura defended the State of California and its employees in state and federal courts. Thereafter, Gura entered the private practice of law with the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

offices of

Sidley & Austin Sidley Austin LLP is an American multinational law firm with approximately 2,000 lawyers in 20 offices worldwide. The firm's headquarters is at One South Dearborn in Chicago's Loop. The firm specializes in a variety of areas in both litigation ...

. In February 2000, he left the firm to serve for a year as Counsel to the

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations, a ...

, Subcommittee on Criminal Justice Oversight. Gura is admitted as an active member in good standing in the District of Columbia Bar, the

Virginia State Bar The Virginia State Bar (VSB) is the administrative agency of the Supreme Court of Virginia created to regulate, improve and advance the legal profession in Virginia. Membership in good standing in the VSB is mandatory for attorneys wishing to pr ...

, and the

State Bar of California The State Bar of California is California's official attorney licensing agency. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, prescribing appropriate disciplin ...

. He is also admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and numerous United States Courts of Appeals and District Courts. On July 13, 2009 Legal Times named Gura to the list of “40 Under 40” of Washington D.C.’s rising legal stars. On March 22, 2013, the National Law Journal named Mr. Gura one of "The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America." On June 6, 2016 he argued for the plaintiff,

Defense Distributed Defense Distributed is an online open-source hardware organization that develops digital schematics of firearms in CAD files, or "wiki weapons", that may be downloaded from the Internet and used in 3D printing or CNC milling applications. Among ...

, in court against the United States State Department in Defense Distributed v. U.S. Dept. of State. In February 2021, he was named Vice President for Litigation of the ''

Institute for Free Speech The Institute for Free Speech (IFS), formerly called the Center for Competitive Politics, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formerly headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, and now in Washington, D.C. IFS' mission is to "promote and defend the ...

''.

Personal life

Gura works at the aforementioned Gura P.L.L.C. and lives in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Downto ...

References

External links

*
Appearances at the U.S. Supreme Court
from the

Oyez Project The Oyez Project at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Chicago-Kent College of Law is an unofficial online multimedia archive of the Supreme Court of the United States, especially audio of oral arguments. The website "aims to be a complete a ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gura, Alan Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers American gun rights activists Cornell University alumni Federalist Society members Georgetown University Law Center alumni Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Year of birth missing (living people)