Nick Pacheco

Lauro "Nick" Pacheco Jr. (born February 9, 1964) is an American disbarred lawyer, politician, and a member of the Democratic Party. Pacheco served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council (1999–2003). Prior to serving on the Los Angeles City Council, Pacheco served as an Elected Charter Reform Commissioner (1997–1999) for the same district he served as Councilmember. He also worked for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office as a Deputy District Attorney (1995–1999).

Early life Pacheco was born and raised in Los Angeles in the community of Boyle Heights. Prior to attending the University of California, Berkeley, he attended Loyola High School, graduating in 1982. He also created the Affordable Housing Trust Fund in the City of Los Angeles as chair of the council's Housing and Community Redevelopment Committee.

As chair of the council's Budget Committee he established the Neighborhood Prosecutor program that focuses on quality-of-life crimes in each neighborhood. Under this program each police division in the city has a specific Deputy City Attorney assigned to identify and prosecute quality-of-life crimes (graffiti, prostitution, drag-racing, etc.) that harm each neighborhood.

Pacheco ran for district attorney against incumbent Steve Cooley in 2004 and lost by 44 percentage points. He returned to private practice, handling mostly family-law cases.

After leaving politics, Pacheco continued to practice law in Los Angeles and Mission Hills.

Pacheco failed to participate in Case No. 16-O-17420-YDR, a disciplinary proceeding and as set forth in the Rules of Procedure of the State Bar, he was disbarred effective September 9, 2018. The California State Bar maintains a page for each lawyer and his indicates that he was ineligible to practice law starting on September 1, 2017, and disbarred on September 9, 2018.

Lira v. Nick Pacheco Law Group In 2015, his law firm in Mission Hills was sued by two former employees, Carlos and Rico Lira, who alleged the following: that Pacheco failed to pay all of their wages, that his employee, defendant Juan Jaramillo, demanded that they contribute $500 to Rudy Martinez's City Council campaign (which later became the subject of an investigation by the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission), that his employees made racially charged statements to them, and that his nonlawyer sales staff improperly gave legal advice to clients by falsely promising that their homes could be saved from foreclosure. They alleged to have been fired after they complained about this misconduct, and that Pacheco later defamed them to their prospective employer. contending that the statements to their prospective employer were made in anticipation of litigation, and that the remainder of the claims arose from his protected activity in representing his clients, and in connection with the Ethics Commission investigation.

Personal life He was married to Marisela Alvarez, but the pair divorced. They had two daughters and a son.

Electoral history