Richard Rybicki began studying Alternative Dispute Resolution while a student at Cornell Law School. After returning to California, he enrolled in one of the state's first bar-sponsored mediator certification programs, completing the Los Angeles Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Services training in 1993. 

In the 1990s, he was active in both the Beverly Hills Bar Association Mediation Subcommittee and the Southern California Mediation Association, including its early programs at Pepperdine University’s Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. He remains active in local ADR organizations and is a member of the American Bar Association’s Mediation Committee.

His approach includes a commitment to the development of Alternative Dispute Resolution law.  He worked with the California Institute of Technology in Garstang v. Superior Court, the first case recognizing a constitutional privacy right in mediation communications, and has participated in amicus matters on ADR issues as well.

He is also active in public and academic education, presenting mediation seminars with agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. He has taught employment mediation and bargaining skills at places such as Sonoma State University's Wine Business Institute and Stanford Law School’s Gould Negotiation and Mediation Program.

Mr. Rybicki's experience includes unlawful harassment and discrimination, disability accommodation, wrongful termination, wage-and-hour rules, reductions in force, contract and misrepresentation claims, trade secrets and unfair competition, employee privacy and drug testing, defamation and common-law torts, employee benefits and benefit plan administration, Labor Code penalties, class and collective actions, representative actions, and most other employment-law issues.  He also works to resolve labor-management disputes during collective bargaining, contract interpretation, grievance negotiation, and labor arbitration. 

Professional Experience

Mr. Rybicki was a shareholder with the nation's largest labor and employment law firm prior to opening his own practice in 2002. He advises management in all areas of labor and employment law, representing employers, employer associations and employee benefit plans in courts and administrative proceedings throughout the United States. He also practices under state and federal labor relations laws including collective bargaining, arbitration, and matters before various labor relations boards.  

He has also represented employees in matters ranging from individual Labor Commissioner claims to class and collective actions involving thousands of workers. His average individual and class-action recoveries top six and seven figures, respectively.  

He graduated from Cornell Law School with a Concentration in Advocacy, later receiving an advanced qualification in Philosophy (studying the relationship between language and law) from the University of Cambridge.  He is admitted to practice in California and before various federal District Courts, Courts of Appeal, and the United States Supreme Court.

Please click here for a printable mediator biography.