Ronaldo Rauseo-Ricupero chairs the Electronic Discovery and Digital Evidence team at Nixon Peabody while maintaining an extensive pro bono docket. As an attorney, his practice centers on protecting corporations and executives facing government scrutiny, yet his career is equally defined by human rights litigation that spans federal district courts and the U.S. Courts of Appeal.
Defending Corporations and Executives Against Federal Enforcement
Within his practice at Nixon Peabody, Rauseo-Ricupero represents businesses and corporate executives across the energy, health care, defense contracting, and higher education industries, as Nixon Peabody details. His caseload involves navigating regulatory threats under the False Claims Act, health care statutes, state environmental laws, and state consumer protection acts.
His representation spans the entire lifecycle of a dispute. He guides clients from internal investigations and responses to subpoenas or civil investigative demands through to civil trials, criminal enforcement actions, and appeals. His courtroom record includes arguing and winning cases before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, various U.S. Courts of Appeal, and multiple trial courts.
Government investigations form a core pillar of this defense work. He has represented multiple parties before the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office on multi-state inquiries touching on municipal contracting, higher education, and environmental actions. Beyond state boundaries, his matters have involved federal inquiries. He represented a multinational corporation in a pricing investigation led by the Massachusetts Inspector General’s Office, negotiated Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act matters in federal court, and counseled a Minority/Women-Owned Business supplier before the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston.
His defense engagements stretch into federal probes. He represented a potential witness before the United States Senate Permanent Select Committee on Investigations, an executive facing the first-ever false-statement-to-FERC investigation by a U.S. Attorney’s Office, and a major national pharmaceutical company in federal and state product marketing investigations. He also defended a major defense contractor in parallel civil and criminal billing investigations originating from the Philadelphia U.S. Attorney’s Office, a health care executive targeted in off-label sales kickback inquiries by the DOJ and HHS, and a defendant caught up in federal investigations stemming from Boston’s Big Dig construction project.
Shaping Precedent in E-Discovery and Civil Litigation
Beyond defense, Rauseo-Ricupero leads Nixon Peabody’s Electronic Discovery & Digital Evidence team and serves on the firm’s Antitrust, Regulatory, and Unfair Trade Practices team, according to Nixon Peabody. He authoured the Lexis-Nexis Guide on Massachusetts Electronic Evidence and E-Discovery, establishing himself as a recognized authority on data retention, collection, and production challenges across diverse industries.
His civil litigation and arbitration docket includes commercial disputes. He second-chaired a two-week trial resulting in a total defense verdict for a major energy company in a four-year litigation, successfully argued a case regarding accountant and auditor liability before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and secured a multi-million-dollar summary judgment for a municipality in a contract dispute.
His antitrust and regulatory work involves advising on compliance and orchestrating multi-jurisdiction securities litigation defense strategies for international pharmaceutical transactions. He has also handled civil RICO actions, participated in teams representing collateral managers in SEC adversary proceedings, and managed intellectual property licensing disputes in federal district court.
Rauseo-Ricupero Earns Awards for Pro Bono Advocacy
Rauseo-Ricupero maintains an active pro bono practice that has garnered recognition, including the Boston Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Award. His community and human rights advocacy has earned him recognition from the Hispanic National Bar Association as a Top Lawyer under 40 in 2020.
His pro bono trajectory took shape shortly after he graduated from Boston College Law School in 2007, when he joined Nixon Peabody and took on the case of a Guatemalan man facing deportation following an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workplace raid at a New Bedford factory, as Boston College reports. After years of proceedings, he secured asylum for his client.
Discovering that ICE had flown detainees from that New Bedford raid to Texas to exploit removal hurdles, Rauseo-Ricupero partnered with Boston College Law Professor Daniel Kanstroom and the BC Law Post-Deportation Human Rights Project. Together, they brought a challenge before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. They successfully pushed back against the government’s practice of accelerating deportations to evade legal challenges, ultimately restoring the client’s legal permanent resident status. For this service, Boston College’s Center for Human Rights and International Justice honored the firm with its Human Rights in Action Award.
When two U.S. senators asked Nixon Peabody to block the imminent deportation of roughly 50 de facto asylees targeted without notice, the firm enlisted Rauseo-Ricupero. He assembled a volunteer team, drafted emergency briefs, examined the regional ICE Director, and secured a federal court injunction. The American Civil Liberties Union subsequently honored the firm with its annual recognition award and invited Rauseo-Ricupero to join its Board of Directors.
His advocacy has also addressed family separations at the southern border. When the ACLU alerted him to a mother separated from her child, he negotiated a reunification process that was later broadcast on CNN En Español. His broader pro bono record includes winning asylum for an undocumented worker, aiding low-income residents of the Housing Authority in Chelsea, and securing a victory in another Fifth Circuit case for a client from El Salvador.
Rauseo-Ricupero Holds Leadership Roles in Civic Institutions
Alongside his casework, Rauseo-Ricupero is involved in civic and institutional leadership across Massachusetts. At the Boston Bar Association, he serves on the Boston Bar Journal Board of Editors after previously serving as a co-chair and as a member of the Litigation Section Steering Committee.
His civic footprint extends to the ACLU of Massachusetts, East Boston Social Centers where he co-chairs the board serving diverse children and families, the John William Ward Public Service Fellowship, the City of Boston Scholarship Committee, and the Boston Public Library’s Strategic Planning Committee. He holds a degree from Harvard College and earned his degree from Boston College Law School.
