Ropes & Gray LLP

Litigation

Partner

Richard (Rick) Gallagher is a litigation partner in the firm’s Silicon Valley and San Francisco offices and was the co-managing partner of our California offices from 2015 to 2019. Rick’s practice spans the full spectrum of federal and state court litigation, trials, arbitrations, SEC and DOJ investigations, regulatory examinations, internal investigations, matters impacting board governance, activist matters, M&A litigation, qui tam and whistleblower claims, and other internal compliance and employment issues. Outside of active litigation, Rick regularly provides risk-related counseling to clients, as well as compliance reviews and trainings.

Rick regularly represents domestic and international public companies, private equity funds, portfolio companies, mutual funds, investment advisers, hedge funds, VC funds, private investment funds, board members, officers and other individuals across several industries. He has particular expertise handling disputes, regulatory and compliance issues in the technology, private equity, asset management, life sciences, energy, and consumer goods sectors.

Rick’s recent engagements include representation of companies, directors and officers involved in class action litigation, derivative actions, internal investigations, shareholder demands, short seller attacks, alleged trade secrets theft, products liability claims, and regulatory investigations and enforcement actions brought under the federal and state securities laws. He also has significant experience advising boards of directors and special committee members in M&A litigation brought under the laws of Delaware, California and other states throughout the country. He has successfully defeated multiple cases seeking to enjoin proposed mergers, acquisitions and other business combinations involving both public and private companies.

Rick has first-chair trial and large-scale arbitration experience in both civil and criminal matters, including the prosecution of several jury trials with the San Francisco District Attorney’s office. Rick regularly leads and manages teams of litigation attorneys in litigation, regulatory and trial matters. For major national engagements, Rick is experienced in managing and coordinating law firms throughout different geographies.

State Bar of California

JD, University of California, Davis School of Law, 2000; Order of the Coif; managing editor, U.C. Davis Law Review (1999-2000) BA, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1995