Senior Vice President, Legal Advocacy, and General Counsel Ricardo Soto oversees the Legal Team, provides general legal counsel to the Association and advises the Association in relation to legal strategies targeted to support the Association's statewide and regional advocacy efforts, the membership, the charter school community, and the Association's initiatives and strategic objectives.

Ricardo served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the U.S. Department of Education - Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Ricardo served in this position from October 2009 through August 2011. In his position, Mr. Soto provided senior leadership concerning enforcement, policy and operational activities at OCR.

Prior to his appointment at the U.S. Department of Education, Ricardo was a lawyer with the law firm of Best Best & Krieger in San Diego where he represented charter schools, school districts and community colleges on education and employment issues.

From 2005 to 2007, Ricardo served as Assistant Secretary and Legal Counsel in the Office of the Secretary of Education for California where he advised the Secretary of Education and Governor's Office on legal and policy issues related to elementary, secondary and higher education.

For eight years, Ricardo served as in-house counsel for the San Diego Unified School District and represented the Superintendent, Board and senior staff on education and employment matters.

Ricardo started out his legal career at California Rural legal Assistance in Oceanside, and represented migrant farm workers in education and employment issues.

Ricardo received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School. He received his undergraduate degree from Marquette University. Ricardo is a native of Chicago.