Claire Guthrie Gastañaga

Partner, Dunlap Law, PLC
Former Executive Director, ACLU of Virginia

Claire G. Gastañaga is a respected advocate and non-profit leader with more than 50 years of government relations, political, and legal experience at the local, state, and federal level. Currently a partner at Dunlap Law, PLC, Claire served as the Executive Director of the ACLU of Virginia from 2012-2021. Claire has been a key player in state government, serving as Chief of Staff and Special Counsel to the Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates and as the first woman Chief Deputy Attorney General of Virginia. While in the Virginia AG’s office, she argued cases in the Supreme Court of the United States and in the Supreme Court of Virginia. Claire is a 2015 fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation. The Virginia Lawyer’s Weekly named her to its Lawyers’ Hall of Fame in 2024 and as the Leader in the Law in 2019. Claire served on the Virginia State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 2015–2019. ­­­­ ­­­­