Harmeet's BackgroundHarmeet K. Dhillon is a candidate for the California State Senate, District 11, which includes the entire Count of San Francisco and parts of Daly City and Colma in San Mateo County.
Harmeet is a founding partner of Dhillon & Smith LLP, where she represents civil rights plaintiffs, businesses, entrepreneurs and executives. Harmeet is an internationally recognized civil rights leader and a passionate advocate for principles of limited government, responsible fiscal policies and meritocracy. Harmeet has been actively engaged in California politics for many years, holding various leadership positions in political organizations. California needs Harmeet’s fresh vision, business experience, passion for justice and dedication to public service. |
Harmeet was born in Chandigarh, Punjab, India, and came to the United States as a young child with her father Tejpal, mother Parminder and brother Mandeep. She attended public schools in North Carolina, and graduated from N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, a public boarding school for selected students gifted in the sciences and mathematics. As a child growing up in rural North Carolina with a physician father and homemaker mother, Harmeet learned about the burdens of government regulation and tort litigation run amok. She also learned deeply held family values and the principles of religious liberty, civil rights and the importance of education and independence.
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Harmeet majored in Classical Studies at Dartmouth, where she was the editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth Review and was featured on “60 Minutes,” The New York Times, The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.
After graduating from Dartmouth, Harmeet was a journalist published on the op/ed pages of The Wall Street Journal Asian Edition, The Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times. At the University of Virginia Law School, Harmeet served on the editorial board of the Virginia Law Review, and was president of the nation’s largest chapter of the Federalist Society. After summer internships at the nonprofit Center for Individual Rights and the United States Department of Justice, Civil Division, Constitutional Torst Section, Harmeet was a law clerk for federal appeals court judge Paul V. Niemeyer before practicing law in New York, London, Silicon Valley and San Francisco with international corporate law firms. Since founding her own law firm near Union Square, San Francisco in 2006, Harmeet’s career has evolved to include numerous civil rights cases of national and even international prominence. In 2011, she successfully resolved a four-year legal battle by a turban-wearing Sikh, Trilochan Singh Oberoi, to be hired by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. While admitting no wrongdoing, the CDCR, represented by California’s Attorney General, agreed to hire Mr. Oberoi and pay him several hundred thousand dollars in compensation. The case achieved international media coverage. She has also represented political entities and advanced free speech principles for clients on both sides of the political aisle, always striving to uphold the principles of free speech. Harmeet’s excellence as a business litigator has been recognized by her peers through the distinction of being named a Northern California Super Lawyer by the publishers of American Lawyer magazine, a title reserved to only the top 5% of attorneys in a field. In 2007 she was named by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association as one of the nation’s top “Best Under 40” attorneys. In 2011 she received the Outstanding Attorney award from the South Asian Bar Association of Northern California. Harmeet’s Public Service Leadership
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Throughout her career, Harmeet has been a leader in various civil rights, professional and civic organizations, and has won numerous awards for her pro bono legal services to victims of domestic violence and religious liberties plaintiffs. Harmeet has successfully represented political refugees from various troubled regions of the world, including Kashmir, Tibet and Ertitrea. She has served as a trustee of the Sikh Foundation and has served as legal counsel to several South Asian charities and legal organizations. She has successfully resolved numerous discrimination cases on behalf of Indian American plaintiffs suffering discriminatory workplace or public accommodations practices.
Harmeet was a two-term chair of the South Asian Bar Association of Northern California’s Civil Rights Committee, where she advocated on behalf of victims of hate crimes, racial profiling, religious, ethnic and national origin discrimination. Following the 9/11 backlash against Indian Americans, Harmeet was a national leader on the issue of racial profiling and detention or harassment of South Asians, and she served on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California for three years, including two years on the ACLU’s Executive Committee and chair of its Audit Committee. In addition to zealously representing her clients, engaging in pro bono legal representation, and spending time with family and friends, Harmeet participates actively in local and state politics. A registered Republican, Harmeet has garnered enthusiastic support from all parts of the political spectrum. |