Richard A. Simpson Appointed Chair of ABA Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability

July 1, 2019

Washington, DC — Wiley Rein LLP announced today that Richard A. Simpson, a partner in the firm’s prominent Insurance and Litigation practices, has been named Chair of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Standing Committee on Lawyers’ Professional Liability.

Mr. Simpson, who served as a member of the Committee from 2015 to 2018, was appointed Chair by ABA President-Elect Judy Perry Martinez. He will begin his term when the ABA concludes its Annual Meeting in August.

The Committee serves as a resource for the legal profession, including by acting as a source for information on legal malpractice claim statistics, insurance for lawyers, and malpractice prevention tips. The Committee also hosts the semi-annual National Legal Malpractice Conference, which offers high-quality programming on legal malpractice issues, developments, and trending topics. The Fall 2019 Conference will be held September 11-13 in San Diego.

Mr. Simpson has a national trial court and appellate litigation practice, including substantial experience defending lawyers in professional liability claims and disciplinary proceedings. He also provides legal ethics advice to law firms. Mr. Simpson has acted as lead counsel in 10 of the federal Courts of Appeals; the Supreme Courts of Connecticut, Delaware, North Carolina, and Ohio; intermediate courts of appeals in several states; and federal and state trial courts nationwide. He also has an active pro bono practice, having handled cases involving race discrimination, sex discrimination, disability discrimination, the rights of juveniles sentenced to life imprisonment, First Amendment issues, and amicus briefs for state and local governments in the Supreme Court of the United States, among others. He serves on the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland’s Committee on Litigation and Legal Priorities and is a Permanent Member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference.

Mr. Simpson was an Adjunct Instructor in Trial Advocacy at the University of Virginia School of Law from 2003 to 2017. He has also served as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (under U.S. Attorneys John S. Martin, Jr. and Rudolph W. Giuliani), Attorney-Adviser in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (under Assistant Attorney General Theodore B. Olson), Deputy Independent Counsel (under Independent Counsel Curtis Emery von Kann) (confidential investigation conducted under seal) and Associate Independent Counsel (under Independent Counsel James C. McKay) (investigation of Attorney General Edwin Meese).