Sunil
Mansukhani

As a principal at Raben, Sunil Mansukhani works at the intersection of people, policy, and process. For more than a decade at Raben, he has guided clients from all sectors — nonprofit, government, foundation, and corporate — to navigate the labyrinth that is Washington, D.C. His craft is informed by over two decades of experience in education and civil rights policy, law, and advocacy.

Sunil served in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Education (ED) in three administrations, serving presidents of both parties. Before joining Raben, he was the deputy assistant secretary for policy in ED's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) during President Obama’s first term. As part of OCR’s senior management team, Sunil helped lead an office with over 600 employees, a budget of $100 million, and 12 locations across the country.

While Sunil was at ED, he developed guidance for educational institutions that protected the civil rights of tens of millions of students involving a range of issues, including the consideration of race in K-12 and college admissions; harassment and bullying; sexual violence; documentation requirements for enrollment in public schools; and equal access for students with disabilities. In addition, he oversaw the update of the widely-used Civil Rights Data Collection, a survey that gathers equity-related information from every public school in the country.

Sunil’s previous positions include serving as a senior attorney in DOJ’s Civil Rights Division; executive director of the District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission; associate with the law firm Crowell and Moring; law clerk for Chief Judge Edward Cahn in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; and, teaching fellow at Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Public Representation.

Sunil is on the board of directors of the Center for Law and Social Policy as well as The Equal Rights Center. He is also the Chair of the National Advisory Council for Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC. He received his bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics, summa cum laude, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School, and an LL.M in Advocacy from Georgetown University Law Center. Born and raised in Chicago, Sunil is a lifelong fan of Chicago sports teams.