Richard is the consummate team-player, utilizing his research and briefing skills on a wide variety of employment matters ranging from single-plaintiff Title VII cases to wage and hour class and collective actions and complex pattern or practice litigation. He has also developed a significant body of appellate work, drafting numerous appellate briefs for several federal courts of appeal.

With almost 20 years of experience, Richard has developed a reputation as a “go to” attorney for answering difficult employment law issues in an efficient manner.Along with employment law work, Richard has worked on cutting-edge and precedent-setting public accommodations law cases for his retail and movie theater clients, including significant wins against the Department of Justice. Richard also works with clients in developing strategies to curtail lawsuits by serial plaintiffs. He also advices clients on technological advances that impact public accommodations, such as captioning and descriptive narration devices, as well as website accessibility issues.

Richard works with Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP attorneys across the country, assisting with matters before the EEOC and state agencies, state and federal courts, and appellate courts. He is admitted to practice in the Northern District of Texas and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Bar Admissions

Education
JD, SMU Dedman School of Law, cum laude, Comment Editor, SMU Law Review Association, Member, Order of the Coif, Phi Delta Phi, 1998

BA, The University of Texas at Austin, with honors, 1994

• Represents several national companies in matters including wage and hour claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and discrimination claims under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
• Handles public accessibility litigation under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act and analogous state accessibility laws.
• Represents movie theater and retail clients in accessibility cases in Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.
• Advises clients on accessibility issues throughout the United States.
• Represented retail stores and movie theater chains in appeals to the Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Circuits, including: Lara v. Cinemark USA, Inc., 207 F.3d 783 (5th Cir. 2000), United States v. Cinemark USA, Inc., 348 F.3d 569 (6th Cir. 2003), Pickern v. Pier 1 Imports (U.S.), Inc., 457 F.3d 963 (9th Cir. 2006), United States v. AMC Entertainment, Inc., 549 F.3d 760 (9th Cir. 2008), Chapman v. Pier 1 Imports (U.S.), Inc., --- F.3d --- (9th Cir. 2011) (en banc).