Ryan Hughes

Associate Counsel, Reich, Adell & Cvitan

Ryan recently joined Reich, Adell & Cvitan, a law firm specializing in representation of labor unions, employee benefit funds, and Democrats running for office. The focus of Ryan’s work will be on ensuring that employee benefit funds can deliver the best benefits — especially healthcare and retirement — to working families. The law in this area is evolving quickly in the wake of the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”).

Prior to joining Reich, Adell & Cvitan, Ryan was a legislative consultant for Assembly Speaker John Pérez, where he analyzed and tracked hundreds of bills relating to elections, local government, public employee retirement systems, utilities, commerce, gaming, and other areas. His analysis concisely informed members of the Assembly Democratic Caucus of bills’ content and alerted leadership about bills that would prove contentious.

Before joining the Speaker’s Office, Ryan served as Senior Research Associate to the Jerry Brown 2010 gubernatorial campaign, as a judicial extern to Justice Carlos Moreno of the California Supreme Court, as a policy associate at Education Trust in Washington, DC, and as a Teach For America corps member in the Mississippi Delta.

Ryan earned his J.D., cum laude, from UC Hastings College of Law and his B.A. from University of Virginia. In law school, Ryan focused on legislation, alternative dispute resolution, and employment law; through clinics and courses, Ryan drafted regulations to implement ballot initiatives, mediated small claims cases with litigants, and advised employees of their rights.

Ryan grew up in California’s Inland Empire and was the first person in his family to attend college. In his free time, Ryan enjoys surfing and programming Dollar, Dollar, Bill, a system that intuitively tracks California campaign finance in realtime.

More: rhughes.com, @LeftCoastRyan