Richard S. Gurbst Partner

Richard (Ricky) Gurbst has more than 40 years of trial experience in state and federal courts on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants. He has extensive experience in matters related to unfair competition, trade secrets and trademark issues; bankruptcy litigation including state liquidation proceedings; and a wide range of health law litigation, as well as representation of growth companies.

Having spent 11 years at the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland at the beginning of his career, Ricky now serves as Squire Sanders’ pro bono partner for its US offices.

Ricky has been named Best Lawyers’ 2012 Cleveland Litigation Lawyer of the Year – Banking & Finance as a result of the efforts of an outstanding Squire Sanders trial team who successfully defended a Chapter 11 bank holding company against a $500 million claim brought by the FDIC in district court. The FDIC received nothing after a week-long trial.

For the last half dozen years, he has been repeatedly selected as one of Ohio’s Super Lawyers and has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America in a variety of categories including bet-the-company litigation, commercial litigation and bankruptcy.

Representative Experience

• Defending an action for breach of fiduciary duty and theft of trade secrets against a growth company.
• Successfully defending a steel company in a multimillion-dollar personal injury case.
• Coordinating a multiphase defense of trade dress claim that included the defense of a pending action in federal court and the opposition in a trademark proceeding.
• Successfully defending a construction case along with a related false claims action, reducing client exposure to the amount of retainage plus interest.
• Litigating successive, competing plans of reorganization in a multiyear Chapter 11 proceeding.
• Representing clients in multiple matters involving zone of insolvency and deepening insolvency litigation.
• Representing a nationally recognized personal injury law firm in a dispute with a departing partner.