Esmeralda Aguilar
Esmeralda Aguilar represents clients in the full range of labor and employment matters with a focus on prevailing wage laws.
Esmeralda joined the firm as an associate in 2010 and became a partner in 2018. She represents and provides counsel to the firm’s clients on a wide range of labor and employment issues. She has extensive experience representing the firm’s clients in matters concerning local, state and federal labor standards, as well as on issues concerning open records and freedom of information laws. Esmeralda regularly drafts legislation and guides clients through the process of seeing that language enacted into law.
Esmeralda has litigated cases in federal trial and appellate courts throughout the United States, and before administrative agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, and various state agencies.
In 2020, Esmeralda formed part of President Biden’s Transition Team for the U.S. Department of Labor. Esmeralda was named a Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. She was selected as a Super Lawyer in 2023.
Esmeralda is a graduate of Cornell Law School, where she served as a bench editor for the Cornell Law School Moot Court Board. While in law school, she also externed with the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor, and served as a judicial intern for the Honorable Daniel T.K. Hurley of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Prior to law school, Esmeralda worked for the AFL-CIO in its communications department where she focused on communicating the concerns of working families to the media, elected officials, and the public through a wide array of outlets.
Esmeralda is a member of the Bars of the District of Columbia and the State of California.