John Huerta was appointed General Counsel of the Smithsonian Institution in 1995. He serves as legal adviser to the Board of Regents and to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He is responsible for protecting the unique federal trust status of the Institution, which serves as the National Museum of the United States, and includes 16 museums, the National Zoo and nine research institutes located in seven states and abroad. The office, which includes 13 attorneys, provides legal advice in commercial contract, real estate, employment, entertainment, trusts and estates, intellectual property, civil rights and labor matters, and representation in administrative proceedings and litigation.

Huerta previously served as counsel to the Western Center on Law & Poverty, Los Angeles, and was a partner in Gronemeier, Barker & Huerta, in Pasadena, and was director of the Southern California Office of the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund. He also was a deputy assistant attorney general, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice, and taught law school at the University of California, Davis, and served as an Overseas Service fellow, International Legal Center, in Lima, Peru.

Huerta is a member of the Board of Directors of the Environmental Law Institute of Washington, D.C. He also served as vice president of the Hispanic National Bar Association, has been active in the California State Bar and American Bar Associations, and is a member of the Order of the Coif. Huerta’s extensive community involvement includes serving as general counsel to Californios for Fair Reapportionment, United Latino Artists of Los Angeles (ULALA) and the National Hispanic Media Coalition. Huerta is trustee emeritus of the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts and was a board member and officer of the National Council of La Raza. Huerta has been an active member of the American Bar Association since 1979 and the International Bar Association since 1998.

Huerta received his juris doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 1968, attended Harvard University as a Law and Humanity fellow (1976-1977), and earned his bachelor’s degree from California State University at Los Angeles in political science in 1961.