Boston trial lawyer reflects on remarkable career
Richard P. Campbell is a Boston guy to the core. A past
president of the Massachusetts Bar Association, Campbell is a
graduate of UMass Boston and Boston College Law School. But to
really put it in perspective, his law office in Charlestown is
located just four blocks away from the church where he was baptized
as a baby.
"I'm a native. I'm so local it's ridiculous," said Campbell, the
founder of Campbell, Campbell, Edwards & Conroy PC (Campbell
Trial Lawyers).
Sandwiched between that baptism at St. Catherine of Siena and
the present day, Campbell has spent more than 40 years as a highly
respected trial lawyer while building a nationally prominent law
firm that primarily represents Fortune 100 companies and has
handled cases in more than 30 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin
Islands.
Campbell is in the process of stepping down from his role at the
firm, a shift which he refers to as "a work in progress." He is
still working on a few pending matters but is not taking on any new
assignments.
It has been quite a journey for Campbell, who started a
five-lawyer firm as the only partner and shareholder, in February
1983. At its earliest stages, Campbell remembers a time when the
firm used borrowed office space and typed up notices of appearances
while sitting on phone books. More than 30 years later the firm
represents some of the biggest and most prominent corporations in
the world in multi-district litigation, class actions, aviation
disasters, mass torts, toxic tort, product liability and major
commercial disputes. The two primary offices for the firm are
located in Boston and suburban Philadelphia.
Campbell served as one of seven national trial counsel for
Caterpillar Inc. and also served as lead counsel for a commercial
airline in the 9/11 federal litigation in New York City.
"Many of the leaders and shareholders in the firm today have
never worked for anybody but me," said Campbell. "I take great
pride in the fact that we created this law firm basically out of
whole cloth."
In a career that has seen many accolades, honors and victories
in the courtroom, Campbell is most proud of his induction as a
fellow into the American College of Trial Lawyers, which is widely
considered the premier professional trial organization in
America.
"In trial practice the singular honor is recognition by your
peers," noted Campbell. "To me, induction as a fellow of the
American College of Trial Lawyers is probably the most important
professional credit that I have achieved and that's because it's
recognition by your peers of your accomplishment in your chosen
field."
Volunteering nationally and locally
Volunteering has always been important to Campbell during his
career and he has done so on both a national and local level.
He is a past chair of the 34,000 member Tort Trial &
Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association and has
served on the executive committees for both the International
Association of Defense Counsel and the Product Liability Advisory
Council.
Locally, Campbell served as MBA president during the 2011-2012
association year, which Campbell describes as a highlight of his
legal career.
"In terms of volunteering in lawyer professional associations,
the most important job I had was my service as president of the
Massachusetts Bar Association," said Campbell. "To me, as a local
guy, ultimately the most important work that you do is local. I
will forever hold dear the time that I spent as president of the
Massachusetts Bar Association."
The timing of Campbell's presidency coincided with the financial
crisis in the courts due to a lack of appropriate funding. Under
Campbell's leadership, the MBA launched an unprecedented statewide
billboard campaign to raise public awareness about the dire need
for court funding. According to Campbell, this initiative "turned a
lot of heads" and had a tremendous impact.
"The Massachusetts Bar Association stood up, took the lead and
helped bring about positive change to properly fund the court
system," noted Campbell.
Campbell also developed and led an MBA task force which studied
the changing face of the law economy, including the unemployment
conditions for lawyers graduating from law schools. The "Report of
the Task Force on Law, the Economy and Underemployment: Beginning
the Conversation," was well received and drew national attention
from the ABA who created its own task force to take a national
perspective on this topic.
"He was very dedicated to the MBA and during his presidency he
always took his responsibilities very seriously," said Martin W.
Healy, MBA chief legal counsel and chief operating officer. "Dick
was a great president to work with in addition to being quite an
accomplished attorney."
During Campbell's time at the MBA, he worked with his fellow
officers to get each of them to think beyond their own term as
president in developing a collective, ongoing program of
initiatives that would be passed on from one president to the next.
As a result of this close collaboration, Campbell acknowledges that
the MBA officers he worked with became some of his really good
friends.
"The whole time he was an officer, Dick was a leader that we
always knew we could go to when we needed something important to
get done. He not only had great ideas and common sense, but he knew
how to make things happen," said Valerie A. Yarashus, MBA past
president. "He was so well respected by everyone for having good
judgment about things and getting right to the heart of an issue.
He really knew how to focus on what was the right priority."
Before becoming a fellow officer with Campbell at the MBA, past
President Douglas K. Sheff found himself going against Campbell and
his firm in several trials throughout the years.
"It just shows the power of the MBA that even adversaries can be
brought together and become good friends," said Sheff. "As powerful
an adversary as he was in the courtroom, he's even more powerful as
a friend. Just because he's retiring from the firm doesn't mean
he's going to be retired from my phone calls."
Fellow MBA past President Denise Squillante agrees. She sees
Campbell continuing to be a trusted resource within the legal
community even after his retirement.
"He was a great bar leader and stimulated conversations that
were elevated to a national level," said Squillante. "I am happy
for him as he begins what I refer to as his third act. But I don't
think Dick is going anywhere because it's his nature to be involved
and help people."
Influential people
A successful career is typically not built by one person alone.
Campbell mentioned several colleagues and mentors throughout the
legal profession that have helped shape his career.
Campbell began his career at Shanley & Fisher, PC in New
Jersey where partners Raymond M. Tierney Jr. and Thomas F. Campion
spent countless hours teaching him how to be an effective trial
lawyer.
"Collectively, those two guys invested in me their wisdom and
insights and made me the lawyer that I am today," said
Campbell.
Former Superior Court Justice Charles F. Barrett (ret.) was the
head of the litigation department when Campbell worked at Nutter
McClennen & Fish. Barrett was known as a great trial lawyer and
quickly became a trusted mentor for Campbell.
General Motors was a foundation client for Campbell's firm and
he noted the work of former GM lawyers William J. Kemp Jr. and
Nicholas J. Wittner, who helped teach him the business of law.
Campbell also tipped his hat to shareholders John Grunert and
Dick Edwards, two of the four original lawyers at Campbell,
Campbell, Edwards & Conroy, who he worked with for 30
years.
Of course, Campbell's family has played possibly the strongest
role in his career, and several members have always been steadily
involved in the firm. His son, attorney Richard L. Campbell, is a
shareholder and his brother, James M. Campbell, is a shareholder
and president.
Many different members of his extended family have worked at the
firm in one capacity or another. That list includes five of
Campbell's six brothers, sisters-in-law and several nieces and
nephews.
"We have such an amazing reputation for being a go-to trial
firm. It's certainly a huge legacy that's being passed by my father
to me and the other partners at this firm as he retires," said
Campbell's son Rich. "Working with him here, he's not only been a
tremendous mentor to me, but he's also been a tremendous mentor to
everybody that he works with here at the firm. There is no better
person for a young trial lawyer to work for than Dick
Campbell."
Campbell is also quick to recognize the vital role his wife
Barbara has played in his success.
"I was successful as a lawyer because I could work a hundred
hours, week after week after week and everything at home was taken
care of," acknowledged Campbell. "I never had to do a thing. My
wife has been my partner in life and she made it all happen."
What's next?
When speaking about the next chapter of his life, one area that
intrigues Campbell is teaching. Of particular interest to Campbell
is the intersection of law and business, a space that he is
undoubtedly familiar with given his vast experience.
He envisions designing a course someday such as "Law as a Weapon
in Business," which would address the practical implications for
business people that deal with legal tactics in their day-to-day
business affairs.
Like a lot of professionals that reach the point of retirement,
Campbell is not sure exactly what lies ahead for him. So much time
has been dedicated to his law practice and his clients throughout
the years that he hasn't had much time to think about it.
Whatever he chooses, there is no doubt he will put the same kind
of energy and dedication into it as he did for the past four
decades as a nationally recognized