https://smith-lc.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/photo-rick-thomas-sm.jpeg
OFFICE
Mesa
PRACTICE FOCUS
Business Litigation
Trade Secret and IP Litigation

Richard R. Thomas

SHAREHOLDER

Mr. Thomas is a shareholder at Smith LC, and manages the firm’s Arizona office. Mr. Thomas’s practice focuses on business litigation, with a special emphasis on trade secret and other intellectual property litigation. Throughout his career, Mr. Thomas has successfully protected and vindicated the rights of small-to-medium-sized business owners in a wide variety of business disputes, often against larger competitors. Mr. Thomas’s accomplishments include serving as lead counsel in the following:

  • Claims for more than 70 plaintiffs in a large investment fraud case against the professionals of the former Mortgages Limited in Arizona, resulting in settlements of more than $20,000,000.
  • Representation of a bankruptcy trustee in a large bank failure in the Midwest in a case against officers, directors, and the bank’s outside auditor, resulting in a seven figure settlement.
  • Trade secret and unfair competition claims against a world-wide consumer products company on behalf of a small biotech company in an emerging technology, with alleged damages of more than $1 billion.
  • Copyright infringement/trade secret misappropriation case on behalf of the largest CFO business in the country, resulting in a favorable settlement.
  • Substantial verdict for a successful pain physician against a major metropolitan hospital for wrongfully interfering with the doctor’s medical practice.
  • Multimillion dollar settlement against a major Wall Street investment firm for trade secret misappropriation.
  • Defense verdict for a small business owner in a multimillion-dollar claim brought by a disgruntled minority shareholder of a dissolved corporation.
  • Successfully defeated the efforts of a national company to enforce an unreasonable restrictive covenant not to compete against an entrepreneur with a growing competing business.

Through these and other successes throughout his career, Mr. Thomas has demonstrated a commitment to his personal slogan: “Clients want solutions, not more problems.”

Education

Mr. Thomas graduated from Brigham Young University in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. He received his law degree, cum laude, from Washington & Lee University Law School in 1983. At Washington & Lee, Mr. Thomas was the captain of the National Moot Court team and received the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence.

Bar Admissions
  • State Bar of Arizona
  • State Bar of Georgia
  • Wyoming State Bar
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
Professional Affiliations and Activities
  • Arizona State Bar Association
  • Arizona Trial Lawyers Association
Awards and Recognition
  • Rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell
Languages
  • Portuguese
https://smith-lc.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Smith-LC-Logo-1-e1653360178921.png

Irvine, California

4 Park Plaza Suite 1050 | Irvine, CA 92614
949-416-5000

Lehi, Utah

2912 Executive Parkway, Suite 240 | Lehi, Utah 84043
385-309-0000

Mesa, Arizona

40 N Center Street Suite 104 | Mesa, Arizona 85201
949-416-5000

Jackson, Wyoming

15 South Jackson Street | Jackson, Wyoming 83001
307-201-6000

© 2023 Smith-LC | All Rights Reserved