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  JULIE GUTMAN BIOGRAPHY  

Commissioner Yolanda Fuentes

Attorney and community activist Julie B. Gutman was appointed Board of Public Works commissioner by Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa on June 20, 2007, and was unanimously confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council on July 24, 2007.

In announcing her appointment, Mayor Villaraigosa stated, “Julie B. Gutman brings a breadth of professional experience in labor-management issues, economic development and community redevelopment. Her skills and expertise will be a great asset to the Board of Public Works.”

Since September 1996, Gutman was a trial attorney for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Los Angeles.   In that capacity, she earned a reputation for her 100 percent win record in unfair labor practice trials and federal district court injunction litigation, and was selected to conduct nationwide training on the issue.  She is also known for her ability to negotiate fair and effective settlement agreements among employers, unions, and workers, and has won annual “Outstanding Performance” awards.

An attorney since 1990, Gutman has a distinguished career in public interest lawyering. As community economic development director and supervising attorney for the East Palo Alto Community Law Project, she represented low-income individuals and diverse communities that faced housing, employment, immigration, and redevelopment issues in East Palo Alto.  She helped form EPA CAN DO, a local community development corporation, and filled a seat on the city’s Economic Development Task Force where she analyzed redevelopment projects and leveraged local, state and federal resources for housing, job training, and economic development.

Before moving to Los Angeles, Gutman also clerked for a federal district court judge, taught at Stanford Law School, and worked for a labor law firm in San Francisco. Gutman has spoken at a number of conferences and schools, written for the California Labor and Employment Law Quarterly, received an American Bar Association Fellowship, and will now serve on the executive committee of the Los Angeles County Bar, Labor and Employment section. She is a fluent Spanish speaker who honed her command for the language while doing human rights work in Guatemala.

As a member of the Board of Public Works, Gutman is part of the City of Los Angeles’ only full-time commission that oversees the operations of the third largest municipal division. The board awards more than $500 million in construction and personal services contracts annually and oversees the construction, renovation, and operation of public projects such as municipal buildings, streets, bridges, street lights, water treatment plants, sewers and sidewalks, and provides essential public services like recycling and solid waste management. Gutman oversees the Bureau of Contract Administration, serves as back up to the Bureau of Street Lighting, and is the board’s representative to Council Districts 2, 4, and 6.  Gutman is also tasked to handle citywide labor issues, workforce development issues, and functions as the board’s liaison to the city’s ad hoc committee on gang violence and youth development.

As commissioner, Gutman intends to use her ability to find win-win solutions to foster a business and labor-friendly environment, achieve compliance with the city’s labor policies and regulations, and increase local job training and hiring. She plans to work with developers, contractors and labor to build environmentally sensitive and cost effective facilities while promoting a strong and diverse local workforce. Recognizing that, as Father Greg Boyle of Homeboy Industries says, “Nothing stops a bullet like a job,” Gutman advocates for workforce development, job training, education, and gang prevention to prepare the next generation of workers.

Gutman earned her law degree from Stanford Law School and her bachelor’s degrees in history and in law and society from Brown University. From the latter, she graduated magna cum laude and received the Pembroke award for excellence in scholastic achievement and extracurricular activities. Gutman enjoys serving as a youth mentor. She is also an active marathon runner, volunteering as one of the leaders of her running group, the L.A. Leggers, and raising money for good causes as she runs along the roads, rivers and reservoirs of Los Angeles and beyond.

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