Rich is a partner and a member of the firm's Management Committee. He has extensive experience in general civil trial work, with concentrations in business and employment litigation. He provides advice and representation in a variety of business and commercial litigation matters, including shareholder disputes, corporate dissolutions, intra- and inter-company disagreements, and intra-family business disputes. Rich also provides ongoing employment litigation and counseling services to numerous clients in the private, public and higher education sectors. In the private sector, Rich represents clients in a broad range of industries including health care, professional services, high technology, industrial and manufacturing. He is also frequently selected by litigants to assist in the resolution of their disputes as an independent arbitrator or mediator.
Rich is well known throughout the state and region. He served as president of the Massachusetts Bar Association and subsequently, as president of the New England Bar Association. His trial expertise and judgment were recognized by Governor Deval Patrick, who appointed Rich to the Judicial Nominating Commission, a 21-member body that evaluates and recommends individuals for appointment to the bench, where he served from 2007 until 2009. Rich was also appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court to successive five-year terms on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation, a statutory entity that oversees the funding and delivery of legal services to the underprivileged throughout the Commonwealth. He has also served for more that ten years on the Board of Trustees of MCLE, Inc., the preeminent continuing legal education provider in Massachusetts.
In 2011, Rich received the Massachusetts Bar Association Community Service Award. Also in 2011, Rich was named a Massachusetts "Super Lawyer" by Boston magazine and Law & Politics. He was recently selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2012 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the field of Litigation.
Representative Matters
- Obtained a seven-figure award on behalf of a manufacturer in the United States District Court in a breach of contract claim against its former joint venturer
- Secured defense verdicts on behalf of a municipality, its Board of Selectmen and its chief professional officer against claims of sexual harassment and retaliation in the United States District Court
- Successfully defended an office solutions company in the United States District Court against a race discrimination claim brought by a regional sales manager
- Obtained six-figure award in private arbitration in favor of minority shareholder for breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duties by majority shareholders
- Successfully defended a college against claims of breach of contract and gender discrimination by its former dean in Worcester Superior Court
- Obtained defense verdicts in favor of the research department of a world-renowned university against breach of contract claims in Worcester Superior Court
- Successfully argued in favor of lower court dismissal of gender discrimination and other statutory and common law claims against aerospace manufacturer before the Supreme Judicial Court
- Successfully argued in favor of lower court dismissal of disability discrimination claims against professional services firm in the United States First Circuit Court of Appeals
- Successfully argued for the Massachusetts Court of Appeals to uphold lower court dismissal of claims against a businesswoman by a private lender to hold her liable for developer spouse's debt
- Successfully argued motion for summary judgment dismissing race discrimination claims against warehouse and bulk supplier in the United States District Court
- Obtained summary judgment in favor or health care organization against claims of discrimination in Worcester Superior Court
- Successfully argued motion for summary judgment dismissing wrongful termination and wrongful death claims against plastics executive in Middlesex Superior Court
- Secured preliminary and permanent injunctions in the Business Litigation Session of Suffolk Superior Court on behalf of a nanotechnology business against its former chief chemist for trade secret misappropriation
- Successfully defended packaging supplier and new sales employee in the Business Litigation Session of Suffolk Superior Court against overreaching efforts to restrain their competitive activities
