Overview

Eric Barba is a Partner in Lozano Smith's Walnut Creek Office. He specializes in labor, employment, and governance issues for school districts and public entities.

Experience

Mr. Barba has significant experience handling personnel matters, including classified and certificated discipline, up to and including termination hearings, addressing civil rights complaints before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and California Civil Rights Department, and classified and certificated layoffs. Additionally, Mr. Barba supports clients with traditional labor matters before PERB and at the bargaining table, benefit and retirement issues before CalPERS and CalSTRS, and workplace investigations. In addition to a robust labor and employment practice, Mr. Barba supports public entities with governance issues, including Brown Act, California Public Records Act, and California Voting Rights Act compliance. Mr. Barba is also a member of Lozano Smith’s charter schools practice group where he supports charter school authorizers on California Charter Schools Act issues.

In addition to his current specializations, Mr. Barba has advised school boards regarding state and federal civil rights laws, including Section 504 and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; student discipline; Fourth Amendment protections; and education record privacy. He is experienced in conducting internal investigations and has prepared external responses for complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Education, including the Office for Civil Rights and the Student Privacy Policy Office.

Previously, Mr. Barba served as the Director of JD Admissions for an Ivy League law school. Mr. Barba credits this experience with sharpening his dedication to, and special understanding of, providing educational administrators with responsive, sound, and practical legal advice to address their daily operational needs.

Admissions

Mr. Barba is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Education

Mr. Barba received his Juris Doctor degree from the UCLA School of Law, where he was a recipient of the Douglas Ring Scholarship. While in Law School, he was a coordinator at the El Centro Legal Immigration Detention Center Clinic, and was the admissions chair of the La Raza Law Students Association. He also was Associate and Managing Editor of the Chicana/o - Latina/o Law Review. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and History at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa.

Beginning January 1, 2025, Reports of Egregious Misconduct by Certificated Employees Must be Shared Directly with Prospective School Employers

By: Alyse Nichols, Eric Barba- 11/05/2024

Approval of Nation's First Religious Based Charter School Opens Door to Contentious Constitutional Question

By: Edward Sklar, Eric Barba- 08/18/2023

E80 Oklahoma Supreme Court Blocks Establishment of Nation’s First Religious Charter School

By: Courtney de Groof, Eric Barba- 09/11/2024

In this episode of our podcast, host Sloan Simmons engages with Lozano Smith's charter school experts Courtney de Groof and Eric Barba. The group discusses the recent Oklahoma Supreme Court decision to block the nation’s first proposed religious charter school and implications of this development here in California and more broadly.