DLA Piper announced today that Richard Rahm has joined the firm’s Employment practice as a partner in Northern California, based in the San Francisco office.

Rahm counsels and represents employers in wage-and-hour class and collective actions and other complex litigation. He has more than 20 years of experience and a strong track record of success representing employers in the transportation, financial and retail industries in jury trials, state and federal appeals, and arbitrations.

“Richard is an accomplished and well-respected litigator who adds notable first-chair litigation capabilities, particularly with respect to wage-and-hour class action lawsuits, which continue to grow exponentially in California,” said Brian Kaplan, global co-chair and US chair of DLA Piper’s Employment practice. “His addition bolsters our already deep bench of employment litigators in areas that continue to be in increasingly high demand.”

“As we continue to strengthen our wage-and-hour capabilities in Northern California, Richard’s deep experience handling large class and collective actions under federal and California state employment law, as well as California Private Attorney General Act claims, will be a tremendous benefit to our clients, and we look forward to his contributions,” added Dean Fealk, managing partner of the firm’s San Francisco office.

Rahm joins from Littler Mendelson P.C. He received his J.D., M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. He also received a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an MLitt from St. Peter’s College, Oxford University, and did doctoral research at the Law Department of the University of Frankfurt am Main. Rahm clerked for the Honorable Ferdinand F. Fernandez in the US Central District of California. He is a past chair of the Board of Directors of Special Olympics of Northern California and Nevada, and is currently president of the Board of Directors of the California Supreme Court Historical Society.