Adriane Peralta

ADRIANE PERALTA defends companies in product liability, class action, and consumer fraud litigation and has represented clients in the pharmaceutical, medical device, nutritional supplements, consumer products, life sciences, and biotechnology industries. Adriane has briefed and argued successful dispositive, evidentiary, and discovery motions in both state and federal court, and drafted appellate briefs and petitions before the Supreme Court of the United States, several Circuit Courts, and California Court of Appeal. Adriane also has experience in fact development and discovery including drafting and responding to written discovery, preparing fact and expert witnesses for depositions, taking and defending critical fact and expert witness depositions all over the country, and resolving significant discovery disputes. She was part of the Sidley team in defense of a consumer class action that was recognized by the Daily Journal as one of the “Top Defense Verdicts” of 2020.

Prior to joining Sidley, she clerked for the Honorable Mary M. Schroeder of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and for the Honorable Ronald L. Ellis of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Adriane was also a legal intern for the Educational Opportunities Section of the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. Prior to law school, Adriane was a special education coordinator and summer school principal at Ánimo South LA Charter High School and a special education teacher at John Adams Middle School through Teach For America.

Adriane earned her J.D. from the University of California Los Angeles School of Law, where she was a senior editor of the UCLA Law Review. She received an Ed.D. in educational leadership for social justice and an M.A. in special education from Loyola Marymount University School of Education. Adriane graduated with a B.A. in politics and international relations from Scripps College.

• Member, SidleyWomen
• Member, American Bar Association’s Products Liability Committee.
• Board Member, UCLA School of Law Alumni Association 
• Former Member, California Minority Counsel Program’s Ambassadors Council

Adriane maintains an active pro bono practice and has worked on cases partnering with Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Equal Rights Advocates, Los Angeles Center of Law and Justice, Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, National Veterans Legal Services Program, Public Counsel, and the Williams Institute.

Adriane has been a part of multiple successful teams which includes obtaining a significant victory on behalf of a client who was sexually assaulted while serving in the U.S. Air Force. The team appealed the Department of Veterans Affairs initially assigned 50% disability rating, including an award of US$905/month, arguing that the veteran had more severe symptoms than a 50% rating reflected and was eligible for a higher rating and Total Disability due to Individual Unemployability. The appeal was granted and resulted in a payment increase to US$3,146/month and over US$200,000 in back pay.

She also represented Detroit public school students in Gary B. V. Whitmer, a class action lawsuit against Michigan Governor Richard Snyder and state education officials, alleging that the State of Michigan denies children their constitutional right to literacy under the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the United States Constitution.

Adriane was also part of a team that sought a preliminary injunction requiring the government to provide mental health services to a putative class of immigrant families separated upon entry into the United States in Ms. J.P. V. Barr. On November 6, 2019, in a groundbreaking 50-page order, Judge Kronstadt of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted a preliminary injunction and certified the class, requiring mental health screenings and treatment to help separated family members begin to address the severe and ongoing trauma associated with family separation. Public Counsel honored both teams with its 2019 Pro Bono Award in recognition of Sidley’s efforts on this matter and for “working tirelessly” to defend students’ rights to receive a basic education.