JD, The University of Texas School of Law, 1992
BA, The University of Texas at Austin, 1989

Richard is admitted to practice in the States of Texas and New York.  He is also admitted to practice before the US Courts of Appeal for the Fifth, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits, as well as the Supreme Court of the United States.

• New York State Bar
• Texas State Bar

Richard's recent significant cases include: 

• Trial counsel for AT&T in connection with SEC enforcement action brought against the Company and three individual IR professionals for alleged violations of Reg FD;
• Lead trial counsel in jury trial for one of largest independent mortgage banks in case brought by large competitor alleging breaches of fiduciary duty, tortious interference, misappropriation of trade secrets and conspiracy claims; plaintiff originally sought over US$25m in damages; complete defense verdict with jury awarding US$500,000 on defendants' counterclaims and US$4.5m in punitive damages
• Lead trial counsel in two separate arbitrations for large commercial real estate developer against another developer over construction disputes; the litigation was valued at approximately US$10m ; arbitrators awarded our client all monies it claimed to be owed and issued a take-nothing verdict on claims brought by the other side
• Lead trial counsel for a dozen large banks in connection with breach of contract action against principals of one of largest privately-held home-builders in the US; after a three-day evidentiary hearing, obtained Preliminary Injunction freezing US$60-plus million of the defendants' assets pending final judgment; ultimately the case settled with the firm's clients receiving over US$100m
• Lead trial counsel in large breach of contract, fraud and tortious interference case between Sazerac and client Republic National Distributing Company, LLC, the second largest wine and spirits distributor in the United States, relating to Sazerac's wrongful termination of RNDC as its national distributor
• Lead trial counsel in antitrust case brought by Tiz, Inc. against client Republic National Distributing Company, LLC, the second largest wine and spirits distributor in the United States; motion to dismiss briefing completed and ruling is pending
• Lead trial counsel for institutional lender against one of the largest military housing developers in the US; after trial in April 2013, received judgment for all relief requested, including over US$11.9m in value, plus attorneys' fees and interest
• Lead trial counsel for AT&T in a Section 1981 case brought by Private Equity firm in connection with alleged discriminatory conduct; motion to dismiss filed and ruling is pending
• Lead counsel in two dozen qui tam cases brought against telecommunications company for alleged False Claim Act violations relating to emergency 911 charges; all cases dismissed or settled for nominal amounts for small fractions of alleged damages
• Lead trial and national counsel for telecommunications company in several commercial litigation matters involving all aspects of company's business
• Lead counsel in several ERISA class actions, representing multiple public entities, including publicly traded telephone company, in connection with class actions brought in various jurisdictions as a result of each company's modification and/or termination of retiree health and welfare benefits; defeated retiree claims that these modifications were improper under ERISA by defeating applications for injunctive relief (after several day evidentiary hearings), and obtaining multiple summary judgments and dismissals, all of which have been held up by the applicable Circuit Courts on appeal
• Lead trial counsel in oil and gas arbitration representing an energy client in connection with the purchase and sale of over US$250m in oil and gas interests; Claimants sought in excess of US$40m in damages; after a two-week trial in late 2012, Arbitrators ordered that Claimants take-nothing on all causes of action asserted against the firm's client
• Lead counsel in adversary proceeding involving allegations that the Debtors' former officers and directors breached their fiduciary duties and fraudulently transferred funds of the bankruptcy estate, claiming damages in excess of US$160m ; after briefing, obtained a complete dismissal of all fiduciary duty and other state law claims against the firm's clients and settled the remaining claims for a nominal amount representing less than 0.5% of the alleged damages
• Lead counsel for public telecommunications company in arbitration involving dispute over US$13m in stock options; Arbitrator awarded take-nothing judgment in favor of the firm's client
• Trial counsel in two multi-plaintiff discrimination cases tried for four weeks each in 2010 and 2013 before Dallas Federal District Court juries; in the first trial, obtained take-nothing judgment against two of plaintiffs and other three plaintiffs received less than two percent of lowest settlement demand and significantly less than any settlement offer; second trial successfully settled immediately prior to closing arguments
• Represented public utility company in connection with litigation arising out of then-largest going private transaction in history; after extensive briefing and oral argument, obtained dismissal of class action suits asserting direct claims against the company and its board of directors for allegedly breaching their fiduciary duties; matters subsequently settled with no money paid by the firm's clients
• Represented electric utility company in connection with class action securities case dismissed by Northern District of Texas; plaintiffs alleged the firm's client made misrepresentations in connection with a US$1.4bn tender offer to repurchase the client's equity-linked debt securities and convertible notes and sued under Sections 10(b), 14(e), and 20 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; US District Judge Joe Fish granted motion to dismiss, with prejudice, and Fifth Circuit affirmed dismissal
• Lead trial counsel for one of the world's largest investment management firms against several large real estate developers; after a lengthy trial, a verdict was obtained for the firm's client, requiring the payment of US$25m in refunding bonds, plus interest
• Obtained complete dismissal of securities case filed against publicly-traded ethanol producer which was accused of misleading investors of the company
• Lead trial counsel in case related to the bankruptcy of Mirant Corporation involving US$1.5bn triple-net leasing transaction; plaintiffs leased two power generating facilities from the firm's clients that provide most of the electricity for the metropolitan Washington, DC area; plaintiffs sought to have the leases re-characterized as secured financing transactions; had that effort been successful, ownership of the power plants would have been transferred to the plaintiffs, and the firm's clients could have suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in tax and other damages and losses; after two trials on issues raised in the bankruptcy, the case was ultimately dismissed by the bankruptcy court
• Representation of a publicly-traded company before the NASD and the SEC, and in connection with six consolidated class actions, all claiming the company issued misleading press releases and violated securities laws; after months of testimony taken by the Staff of the SEC, the investigation was closed, with a recommendation to the Commission not to pursue any enforcement action; this result ultimately led to the settlement of the class actions for an amount completely covered by insurance
• Lead counsel in US$150m national class action filed in St. Clair County, Illinois; all claims against the firm's client were dismissed without any obligation to pay any of the damages sought
• Lead trial counsel for two national companies which sued their health insurer when the carrier attempted to cancel their employees' health insurance (over an alleged breach of contract/fraud claim); through trial, the carrier was enjoined from cancelling the insurance coverage and required to pay approximately US$1m in outstanding claims
• Lead counsel for a large insurer which was sued for several million dollars by a hospital system for alleged underpayments, violations of applicable prompt pay provisions and breach of a preferred provider agreement; a year after the litigation began, the case favorably settled for less than 10% of the claimed damages (and less than the amount the firm's client was willing to pay during the first weeks of the dispute)
• Trial counsel in two significant product liability cases; one jury trial resulted in a complete defense verdict and the other jury trial led to a settlement for less than nuisance value; these plaintiffs sought millions of dollars in damages
• Richard has also served as national and regional counsel for several large pharmaceutical companies involved in pharma litigation brought by tens of thousands of plaintiffs in state and federal courts around the country; served on multiple trial teams in a "virtual law firm environment," and in multiple national roles developing defense themes and strategy with complete defense verdicts in cases tried

• Top 200 Lawyers in America, Forbes, 2024
• Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers
• Fellow, American Board of Trial Advocates
• Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America, Lawdragon, 2021-2024
• Lawdragon 500 Leading Litigators in America, Lawdragon, 2024
• Lawdragon 500 Leading Global Litigators, Lawdragon, 2023
• Acritas Star, Acritas,
• Texas Top Rated Lawyer, LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, 2013 – 2023
• Legal 500 US, Dispute Resolution - General Commercial Disputes, The Legal 500, 2017 – 2018, 2021, 2023
• Legal 500 US, Dispute Resolution - International Litigation, The Legal 500, 2017 – 2023
• The Best Lawyers in America, Best Lawyers, 2011 – 2023
• Texas Super Lawyer, Thomson Reuters
• Texas Rising Star, Thomson Reuters, 2004
• Future Star, General Commercial, Benchmark Litigation, Euromoney PLC
• Best Lawyers Under 40 in Dallas, D Magazine, 2004

• "Contract Formation Issues From a Litigation Perspective," National Healthcare Billing & Management Association
• "ERISA Litigation – From a Litigation Perspective: Fiduciary Liability," Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P. Legal Issues Forum
• "Personal Liability of Officers and Directors," American Petroleum Institute Annual Conference

• American Bar Association
• State Bar of Texas
• Dallas Bar Association
  • Business Litigation Section
  • Corporate Counsel
  • Judicial Committee
• State Bar of New York
• US Supreme Court Historical Society
• Junior Achievement, Board of Directors
• Dallas Holocaust Museum, Board of Directors
• Salesmanship Club of Dallas
• Leadership Dallas, Class of 2002