About Us
Eric E. Castelblanco is one of the foremost Southern California attorneys protecting tenant and worker rights. He is the Founder of the Law Offices of Eric E. Castelblanco. This Los Angeles, CA-based law firm concentrates its practice in Housing law, particularly representing tenants that live in substandard living situations, in addition to Employment Law and Personal Injury Law.
Mr. Castelblanco has obtained over $35 million total in settlements for his clients in the last 10 years in the fight to secure their rights.
Since founding his firm in 1995, Mr. Castelblanco has represented hundreds of tenants living in medium–to-large residential multi-family apartment complexes in the greater Los Angeles area in actions filed against landlords for a variety of grievances related to unsanitary, unhealthful or unsafe conditions (e.g. rodent infestation, cockroach infestation, raw sewage overflow, mold, leaky ceilings, broken windows, old carpeting, no hot water and abuse from management). Mr. Castelblanco has been successful in securing for his clients numerous multi-million dollar awards from irresponsible landlords.
Mr. Castelblanco also has fought for the rights of workers to be paid according to the law and for their right to be free from discrimination in the workplace. Mr. Castelblanco has successfully prosecuted cases in the areas of pregnancy, disability and gender discrimination as well as sexual harassment. He has also represented clients recovering unpaid overtime, off-the-clock work and meal & rest period violations.
Mr. Castelblanco is licensed to practice before all California state courts including the State Supreme Court as well as federal courts to include the United States District Court, Central District, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Among his professional affiliations, he is a membr of the California State Bar and the Los Angeles County Bar Association.
A native of Bogotá, Colombia, Mr. Castelblanco immigrated to the United States and was raised in Los Angeles. He attended Loyola Marymount University where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting. He was licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in California. Following work as a CPA, he attended Harvard Law School where he received his Juris Doctor degree.
Mr. Castelblanco currently resides in Los Angeles. He works closely with numerous non-profit organizations in Los Angeles fighting for better housing conditions for tenants.
Attorney Vanessa Valencia Guzmán obtained her Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law in 2009 and was admitted to the California State Bar the same year. At Pepperdine Law School, Ms. Guzmán served as President of the Latin American Law Student Association, Vice President of the Advocates for Public Interest Law and Managing Editor of the Los Angeles Public Interest Law Journal. In addition, she has interned with Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and the UCLA Downtown Labor Center.
Ms. Guzmán is currently an active member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the Mexican-American Bar Association and the Latina Lawyers Bar Association, and speaks fluent Spanish. She is licensed to practice law in the State of California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ms. Chen graduated from University of California Hastings College of the Law. While in law school, Ms. Chen was a member of Hastings Civil Justice Clinic. She earned the Witkin Award for Academic Excellence and the CALI Excellence for the Future Award for her work at Civil Justice Clinic (Individual Representation). She was a recipient of California Employment Lawyers Association’s (CELA’s) Diversity Scholarship. In addition to a law degree, Ms. Chen has a M.A. degree in Psychology from University of California at Santa Barbara where she was a Ph.D. candidate. Prior to attending graduate school, Ms. Chen received a B.A. degree in Psychology from University of California at Irvine with honor.
Ms. Chen currently works as an Of Counsel at the Law Offices of Eric E. Castelblanco. Before her admission to the California Bar, she worked as a law clerk at the firm. During the first two years of law school, Ms. Chen worked in-house for an insurance company headquartered in San Francisco handling transactional and compliance matters.
Ms. Chen is passionate about representing the traditionally underserved populations, including: low-wage workers, immigrant employees, and the LGBT workforce. She is fluent in Mandarin and Taiwanese.
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS:
California Employment Lawyers Association (CELA)
Legal Eagles for Truth, Justice & the American Way (LEFTJAW)
Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC)
Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA)
National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA)
Ms. Rapale is a licensed attorney in Texas and California. She has practiced civil litigation and bankruptcy law since 1998. Ms. Rapale has been Of Counsel to the Law Offices of Eric E. Castelblanco since 2006.
Sandra Rapale graduated with a Juris Doctor degree from Thurgood Marshall School of Law in Houston, Texas in 1998. Ms. Rapale completed her undergraduate B.S. degree in Legal Studies from John Jay College of Criminal Justice New York, NY. In her capacity as Of Counsel to the Law Offices of Eric E. Castelblanco, Ms. Rapale has worked in matters involving Class Action work in the areas of Housing and Employment law.
Born in Puerto Rico, Ms. Rapale immigrated to New York as a young child and is fluent in Spanish and English. Ms. Rapale is a member in good standing of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.