User Profile

Senior Vice President for Legal Advocacy & General Counsel, California Charter Schools Association

Ricardo Soto is senior vice president for legal advocacy and general counsel for the California Charter School Association (CCSA). He has been with CCSA since September 2011. Prior to CCSA, Ricardo served as principal deputy assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) beginning in 2009. In this position, Ricardo provided senior leadership concerning enforcement, policy and operational activities at OCR. 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. He served as in-house counsel for the San Diego Unified School District. Ricardo started out his legal career at California Rural Legal Assistance in Oceanside as a Skadden Fellow, and represented migrant farm workers in education issues. Ricardo received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School, and his undergraduate degree from Marquette University. He is a Fellow of the 13th class of the Pahara-Aspen Education Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.