Since 2014, Richard Tom has served as the assistant general counsel for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power overseeing a forty attorney office that provides legal support to the nation's largest municipal utility. Previously, Richard has served in roles as a director and managing attorney for a investor owned utility, as a deputy attorney general for the State of California, and as a litigation associate at a law firm.

In the community, he has served in various leadership roles, including as the president of Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, as co-chair of the Council of State Bar Sections, as chair of the executive committee of the State Bar's Environmental Law Section, as a planning and cultural heritage commissioner in the City of South Pasadena, and on the boards of the California Bar Foundation, LA Makerspace, and Urban Harvester. He also serves as a volunteer consultant with the Executive Service Corps of Southern California.

In addition, since 2014 Richard has managed the Mott Street Urban Farm in Boyle Heights as a volunteer for the Los Angeles Community Gardening Council. In addition, in the inaugural Hack for Pasadena event in 2014, Richard's team proposed an app for tracking community fitness that received the judges' award in the This is the start of something really