Rick is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) with the rank of Associate. He has tried over 50 civil jury trials to verdict. He is recognized by the Southern California plaintiff’s bar as an elite level trial lawyer.

He is Southern California regional litigation counsel for State Farm, Auto Club, Mercury, Hilton, WD-40 Company, Essex Properties, Hewlett Packard, Kaiser Permanente, Vallarta Markets, and Diamond Parking.

He is also a member of the National Retail & Restaurant Defense Association.

Rick was named a “Southern California Rising Star” in the September 2004 Edition of Los Angeles Magazine.

Speaking Engagements and Presentations

In 2002, Rick was a featured speaker at the National Costco Defense Counsel Conference on the impact of Ortega v. K-Mart on defending premises liability claims.

In 2012, Rick presented the feature jury trial of the year at the Costco Defense Counsel Conference regarding his defense verdict in the case of Rivera v. Costco, the first Paxil suicide case tried in the U.S. against a pharmacy defendant, which resulted in a defense verdict.

He has been a featured presenter about premises liability at the annual meeting of the Southern California Tourism & Safety Association.

He frequently presents free training seminars to his clients on incident investigation, claim evaluation, and dynamic changes in California law effecting their business and liability.

Personal Interests

Rick was captain of the Track & Field team at the University of Notre Dame. He still ranks in the top 10 all-time performers at Notre Dame for the high jump and triple jump events. He was an All-CIF basketball player at Mission Viejo High School.

He has completed two full marathons.

He enjoys spending time with his wife and two children.

Education

• University of Notre Dame, B.A.A. 1988

• Western State University School of Law, JD, with scholastic merit, 1994