Trutanich earned his MBA from the University of Southern California where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta.

[4] Trutanich attended night school at South Bay University College of Law, graduating with a Juris Doctor in 1978.

Trutanich established a new peer review process to attempt to better settle such cases, and assigned seven new attorneys to the Workers Compensation division.

[15] Trutanich's decision to run drew criticism from opponents in the race as well as a staff editorial in the Los Angeles Times.

[18] Under the terms of the pledge signed by Trutanich, if he did not serve two full terms as City Attorney he would have to take out a full page advertisement in the Los Angeles Times stating "I am a liar" and donate $100,000 to LA's Best After School Enrichment Program,[19] which serves 28,000 students at 186 elementary school sites in Los Angeles.

[26] On Monday April 9, 2012, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Kalin characterized Trutanich's decision to call himself "Los Angeles chief prosecutor" on the June election ballot as an attempt to mislead voters and Judge Kalin prohibited Trutanich from using that term or any misleading variations of it.