Rick Friedman

Trial Guides is proud to have Rick Friedman as one of its authors. Rick built his reputation representing people and small businesses injured by large corporations and government agencies. He handles cases including catastrophic injury, defamation, insurance bad faith, and business torts.

Rick started his career in a small town in Alaska as a lawyer with no staff, where he developed a love for studying the books and transcripts of great trial lawyers. He built his career representing the poor, injured, and mistreated, sharing with jurors the truth about his clients’ injuries and what caused them. His trial method is to present the truth to the jury, and effectively counter defense tactics to distort the truth. He has developed methods for clearly showing jurors how defendants have broken the rules that protect all of us. Lawyers all over the country now ask him for help in trying their cases.

Among Rick’s landmark cases are Bellott v. State Farm, a $152,000,000 jury verdict on behalf of a client whose insurance agency agreement was terminated in retaliation for his refusal to engage in dishonest marketing practices; Washington v. Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada LLC, a $104,000,000 jury verdict for the infection of his client with Hepatitis C due to the defendant’s multi-dose vials of Propofol; Myrick v. Mastagni, a jury verdict believed to be the first case in California holding a building owner liable for injuries sustained in an earthquake; and Robinson v. State Farm, which exposed State Farm’s use of false doctor’s reports to deny claims. He has obtained four verdicts that ranked in the top ten verdicts of the year in the United States. He is a member and past president of the Inner Circle of Advocates as well as a member of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Rick is a graduate of Harvard Law School and the author or coauthor of four bestselling legal books for Trial Guides: Rules of the Road: A Plaintiff Lawyer’s Guide to Proving Liability, Polarizing the Case, Becoming a Trial Lawyer, and The Elements of Trial. These books have revolutionized how thousands of lawyers try their cases. He is licensed to practice in Alaska, Washington, Nevada, Kentucky and California, but also regularly appears pro hac vice in other state and federal courts around the country.

Rick has been an important advisor to Trial Guides since 2005.