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Rico Rosales
Partner Emeritus
Litigation
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  • An Employment Law Veteran

    Rico practiced employment law for over 35 years, and his practice encompassed all aspects of the field, including counseling and representing clients in litigation matters.

  • Extensive Trial Experience

    He represented clients in several jury and non-jury trials, including discrimination, wrongful termination, and class action matters, and successfully defended cases against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

  • Employee Mobility and Trade Secret Advisor

    Rico advised clients on employee mobility and trade secret misappropriation issues, including non-compete agreements, employee raiding and solicitation matters, and preventative measures to minimize risks associated with hiring competitors’ employees or having employees depart to work with competitors.

  • A Recognized Leader

    He has been recognized as a leader in his field numerous times by Northern California Super Lawyers.

Ulrico (Rico) Rosales retired in 2024 from Wilson Sonsini as a partner in the firm’s employment law practice. Before retiring, Rico had practiced employment law for more than 35 years—30 of them in Silicon Valley—and had seen virtually every type of employment issue faced by technology and growth companies. Rico's practice encompassed all aspects of employment law, including counseling and representing clients in litigation matters.

Rico represented clients in several jury and non-jury trials, including discrimination, wrongful termination, and class action matters. He successfully tried numerous discrimination cases, including race, sex, age, and disability cases. His trial experience also included successfully defending cases against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). Rico also routinely handled litigation matters involving wrongful termination, sexual harassment, constructive discharge, breach of contract, wage and hour and fraud.

Rico drew on his extensive litigation practice when counseling clients. On a daily basis, he would consult with human resources professionals, executives, and board members regarding all aspects of the employment relationship. These issues included preventive personnel practices, employee terminations, workplace investigations (including those involving sexual harassment), wage and hour matters, independent contractor audits, and reductions in force. He also advised companies regarding employment due-diligence matters in the merger and acquisition context. In addition to the scores of clients Rico represented in the technology field, he frequently advised venture capital firms on employment matters and also was called upon to advise the management teams of companies being acquired by other companies.

A significant portion of Rico's practice involved advising companies on employee mobility and trade secret misappropriation issues, including the interpretation and enforceability of non-compete agreements, employee raiding and solicitation matters, and counseling clients as to preventive measures designed to minimize the risks associated with hiring competitors' employees or having employees depart to work with competitors. Throughout his career, Rico counseled hundreds of technology and life sciences companies dealing with such issues and represented companies in approximately 25 court actions involving these matters. For example, he represented Broadcom in GlobeSpan v. O'Neil, which resulted in a California federal court decision declaring that the inevitable disclosure doctrine is not the law of the state.

Rico regularly spoke on employment matters. He also commented for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, the San Jose Mercury News, Business Week, and legal-profession newspapers. From 2001 until his retirement, San Jose Magazine identified him as one of Silicon Valley's best employment lawyers. Additionally, Rico provided pro bono legal services to several Bay Area nonprofit organizations.

Rico is a former co-chair of the firm's Nominating Committee and a former member of the Policy Committee.

Rico is a former law clerk to the Honorable Zita L. Weinshenk of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. He had also served as the managing partner of the Palo Alto office of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen.

Experience

Ulrico (Rico) Rosales retired in 2024 from Wilson Sonsini as a partner in the firm’s employment law practice. Before retiring, Rico had practiced employment law for more than 35 years—30 of them in Silicon Valley—and had seen virtually every type of employment issue faced by technology and growth companies. Rico's practice encompassed all aspects of employment law, including counseling and representing clients in litigation matters.

Rico represented clients in several jury and non-jury trials, including discrimination, wrongful termination, and class action matters. He successfully tried numerous discrimination cases, including race, sex, age, and disability cases. His trial experience also included successfully defending cases against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). Rico also routinely handled litigation matters involving wrongful termination, sexual harassment, constructive discharge, breach of contract, wage and hour and fraud.

Rico drew on his extensive litigation practice when counseling clients. On a daily basis, he would consult with human resources professionals, executives, and board members regarding all aspects of the employment relationship. These issues included preventive personnel practices, employee terminations, workplace investigations (including those involving sexual harassment), wage and hour matters, independent contractor audits, and reductions in force. He also advised companies regarding employment due-diligence matters in the merger and acquisition context. In addition to the scores of clients Rico represented in the technology field, he frequently advised venture capital firms on employment matters and also was called upon to advise the management teams of companies being acquired by other companies.

A significant portion of Rico's practice involved advising companies on employee mobility and trade secret misappropriation issues, including the interpretation and enforceability of non-compete agreements, employee raiding and solicitation matters, and counseling clients as to preventive measures designed to minimize the risks associated with hiring competitors' employees or having employees depart to work with competitors. Throughout his career, Rico counseled hundreds of technology and life sciences companies dealing with such issues and represented companies in approximately 25 court actions involving these matters. For example, he represented Broadcom in GlobeSpan v. O'Neil, which resulted in a California federal court decision declaring that the inevitable disclosure doctrine is not the law of the state.

Rico regularly spoke on employment matters. He also commented for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, the San Jose Mercury News, Business Week, and legal-profession newspapers. From 2001 until his retirement, San Jose Magazine identified him as one of Silicon Valley's best employment lawyers. Additionally, Rico provided pro bono legal services to several Bay Area nonprofit organizations.

Rico is a former co-chair of the firm's Nominating Committee and a former member of the Policy Committee.

Rico is a former law clerk to the Honorable Zita L. Weinshenk of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. He had also served as the managing partner of the Palo Alto office of McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen.

Focus Areas
Recent Insights
News Articles
Wilson Sonsini Attorneys Named to 2024 Lawdragon 500 Corporate Employment Lawyers
On September 22, 2023, Lawdragon released the 2024 edition of its Lawdragon 500 Corporate Employment Lawyers guide honoring more than 300 attorneys who specialize in employment litigation, defending trade secret, discrimination, ERISA, wage and hour, and other claims. Attorneys were selected based on journalistic research, submissions, and vetting.
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Alerts
California Supreme Court Rules Employees Can Pursue PAGA Claims on Behalf of Other Aggrieved Employees in Court Despite Arbitration Agreement
On July 17, 2023, the California Supreme Court ruled that where an employee has brought a California Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) action that is comprised of both individual and non-individual claims, a court order compelling arbitration of the employee’s individual claims “does not strip the [employee] of standing as an aggrieved employee to litigate claims on behalf of other employees under PAGA.” The court’s decision in Adolph v. Uber Technologies,1 is bad news for California employers. Just last year the U.S. Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) decision in Viking River Cruises, Inc. v. Moriana,2 (“Viking River”) held essentially the opposite—that where an enforceable arbitration agreement exists, a court could compel an employee to litigate individual claims in arbitration and that, when it did so, the employee could no longer pursue any non-individual (“representative”) claims in court and the court should dismiss any such non-individual claims. As a result, California employers can expect to see an increase in costly PAGA actions with little hope that their arbitration agreement will reduce the risk of such claims.
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