Eliot R. Cutler is senior counsel in the firm’s Washington and Beijing offices. He was the partner in charge of the firm’s Beijing office from its 2007 opening until June, 2009.
Widely respected for his strategic acumen, Mr. Cutler has helped corporate and government clients grapple with complicated legal and public policy problems during a 40-year career that has spanned government service, law and politics. Drawing upon his experience as a lawyer, government official and political operative, he devises legal and political measures that complement each other and that respond to clients’ needs. A seasoned negotiator in both private disputes and complex public-sector matters, Mr. Cutler represented a president of the United States in several highly charged land claims cases involving American Indian tribes, served as White House energy policy chief during the energy crises of the late 1970s, represented the United States in international negotiations and was largely responsible for designing the legal and political strategy that made possible the development of the Denver (CO) International Airport—the only new major commercial airport built in the United States for decades and one of the most successful airports in the world.
Mr. Cutler was a founding partner of Cutler & Stanfield, L.L.P., which merged with Akin Gump in November 2000. Under his leadership, Cutler & Stanfield represented clients in airport, highway and other major project matters in nearly 30 states and grew to be one of the largest environmental law firms in the United States.
Earlier in his career, first as legislative assistant to Sen. Edmund S. Muskie (D-Maine) and then as counsel to the Senate Subcommittee on the Environment, Mr. Cutler helped craft the Clean Air Act, the Water Pollution Control Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. Following two years in private law practice in New York, Mr. Cutler returned to Washington in 1977 as associate director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Jimmy Carter. He was the principal White House official for policy and budget matters in the environmental, natural resources and energy areas until 1980.
In addition to his legal experience, Mr. Cutler has served on the boards of directors or advisors of several publicly traded and private corporations and not-for-profit entities. He was the first American director of Skanska AB, one of the world's largest construction and development companies, and he currently is a trustee of the Thornburg Investment Trust, a family of publicly traded mutual funds. Mr. Cutler is Chairman of the Board of Visitors of the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine.
Mr. Cutler received his B.A. cum laude from Harvard College in 1968 and his J.D. from Georgetown University in 1973. He is a member of the Maine, New York and District of Columbia Bars. Mr. Cutler is listed on the Panel of Arbitrators of the China International Economic and Trade Association (CIETAC).