United States President Barack Obama [Images] has appointed two Indian-Americans, Rashad Hussain and Shomik Datta, to his legal team -- the White House Counsel.

Hussain has been appointed as Deputy Associate Counsel to the US President and Dutta will be special assistant to President's Counsel, Greg Craig, the White House said. These appointments were made on January 28.

Till recently serving as a trial attorney at the US Department of Justice, Hussain was a Law Clerk to Damon J Keith on the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Earlier, he also served as a legislative assistant on the House Judiciary Committee, where he reviewed legislations such as the USA Patriot Act.

Hussain earned his bachelor's degree from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his Master's degree in Public Administration and in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Harvard University.

Hussain got his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School, where he served as an editor of the prestigious Yale Law Journal.

Shomik Dutta till recently worked as a member of the Presidential Transition Team. He had also served as Mid-Atlantic Finance Director to the Obama for America campaign for two years.

Prior to that, Dutta worked for Democrat Martin O'Malley's successful gubernatorial campaign in Maryland. He received his bachelor's degree from Williams College.