Richard J. Stone

“Along with exceptional courtroom skills, the lead trial lawyer in a complex case must be an experienced and skilled manager capable of planning and organizing an entire production, then directing and motivating a team to victory. Without these skills, the lawyer, the client and the case may be lost.”

Rick Stone has 40 years of national experience in law and public service and has been called one of the best business trial lawyers in Oregon (Portland Business Journal) and California (Los Angeles Daily Journal). His cases include MAN AG v. Freightliner, LLC, in which he won the largest 2006 plaintiff’s jury verdict in the United States – still the largest overall damages award and the largest punitive damage award in Oregon history – as reported in The National Law Journal (February, 2007). Rick also achieved a landmark plaintiff’s jury verdict in a federal securities fraud trial reported in The American Lawyer (July, 1996), successfully defended one of the largest patent trials in U.S. history, and has acted as lead counsel in a wide variety of other sophisticated business trials. His practice areas include accounting, audit and financial, antitrust, employment, intellectual property, banking and bankruptcy, professional liability, business torts, securities, RICO and other kinds of fraud.

Rick’s achievements have earned him perennial recognition in Best Lawyers in America, as an industry leader in litigation by Chambers USA, and voted by his peers as an Oregon Super Lawyer.

Prior to joining Ball Janik in 1998, Rick practiced in Los Angeles for 27 years. He was: Office Managing Partner at Zelle & Larson LLP (1994-97); Co-Head of the National Litigation Practice and Los Angeles Partner-in-Charge of Litigation at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP (1988-94); Counsel and Partner with Sidley & Austin (1981-88); and an Associate with O'Melveny & Myers (1971-77).

Rick was a top aide at the Pentagon and the Department of Energy for President Jimmy Carter, has served on numerous public boards and commissions, and has led high-profile special investigations on behalf of public and private clients, including: the 1992 Los Angeles Police Commission’s study of the City’s emergency response to civil disturbance; a 1988 study by the Secretary of Defense on Prevention of Fraud and Waste at the Pentagon; and the owners’ response to state and federal government investigations of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.

During the Carter Administration, Rick served as Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Intelligence, International and Investigative Programs of the Department of Defense (DOD), and as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the Department of Energy (DOE). At the Pentagon, his assignments included acting as Legal Advisor for the Delta Force, oversight of the Defense Investigative Service, and management of a Steering Group for Deputy Secretary of Defense Charles Duncan responsible for combating fraud and waste. He also served as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Micronesian Political Status Negotiations. When President Carter named Duncan as the second Energy Secretary, Rick moved to DOE as director of the Secretary’s largest staff office and manager of the department’s 10 regional offices. He was awarded a Special Citation for Outstanding Performance by Secretary Duncan in January, 1981.

In 2007, the Governor appointed Rick to the Oregon Public Health Advisory Board, where he chaired the Policy Initiative Committee with responsibility for leading the Board’s study, Healthier By 2020—A Business Case for Investing in Oregon’s Public Health. He formerly served on the Public Sector Task Force for the California State Senate Select Committee on Long-Range Policy Planning, and as a member of the national Advisory Panel for the Council of Energy Resource Tribes.

In addition to holding numerous leadership positions for the state and local bar, Rick was President of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, one of the nation’s largest legal aid programs, and was the founding Chair of Dispute Resolution Services, Inc., a nationally-recognized Alternative Dispute Resolution program. He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

Rick is a frequent speaker on public policy, ethics-related and legal topics. He is the Statewide Executive Officer of the Admissions Field Force for the United States Military Academy at West Point, sits on the selection committee recommending candidates for nomination to all of the national service academies from Oregon’s 1st Congressional District, and is a member of the Portland Advisory Board for the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command. He is a former member of the Oregon State Bar Committee on Legal Ethics, has taught complex litigation and other trial-related courses as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College. From 1983 to 1991, he was a member of the Board of Visitors for Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, California. He lettered in varsity baseball and soccer in college and has coached both sports at the youth and high school levels of play. He is an Eagle Scout.

Media
Rick has been profiled in The American Lawyer, The Los Angeles Daily Journal, The Portland Business Journal, Oregon Super Lawyers, Chambers USA and other publications.

In 2007, Rick was named “The Bet-Your-Company Lawyer” by Oregon Super Lawyers.

“[H]e’s what’s known as a bet-the-company lawyer, a man whose ability to address a jury means winning or losing hundreds of millions of dollars. . . [and] for his platinum tongued presence in the courtroom.” Portland Business Journal, January 12, 2007

“His painstaking attention to detail, among other traits…earned him the reputation as one of Los Angeles’ top litigators.” Los Angeles Daily Journal, June 15, 1992

“Stone has gained renown as an organizational guru and master of detail, who has managed troops of lawyers in massive bet-the-company cases more like a general or a CEO than an attorney, according to a dozen lawyers who have worked with him or opposed him in several cases.”  American Lawyer, March 1992