Rachit Choksi is the Deputy Chief of Staff for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), supporting the Office of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO on a wide variety of policy and operational matters.
Mr. Choksi previously served as Associate Counsel to the President in the White House Counsel’s Office, where he advised on a variety of legal matters. He began his time in the Biden-Harris administration as the Director for Nominations and Congressional Oversight in the Office of Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce. In this role, he was responsible for developing and coordinating responses to congressional oversight across the Department of Commerce’s 13 bureaus and for preparing senior department officials and other agency witnesses for appearances before Congress. He previously worked on investigations and nominations for two Senate committees, and also served as Counsel to the Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission.
Mr. Choksi is an adjunct professor at Washington College of Law at American University and the Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches courses on congressional investigations law, ethics in the law and public policy, the U.S. legislative process, and legal culture. He is committed to mentoring college students, law students, and junior policy professionals.
Mr. Choksi has received numerous awards for his contributions to the legal and policy professions. He was previously a fellow with the Goethe-Institut, a Wilson Center Foreign Policy Fellow, an Aspen Institute Socrates Emerging Governance Leader, a Wilson Center Congressional Artificial Intelligence Lab Fellow, and an Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies Fellow.
Mr. Choksi graduated from Rutgers College and Rutgers Law School and clerked for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.