Richard Amada has been practicing law since 2003 and has handled a variety of cases presenting a great array of legal challenges. In addition to the vaccine injury law he now practices, he has counseled and represented clients regarding legal fields that include contract law, intellectual property, copyright, trademark, First Amendment issues, Internet legal issues, False Claims Act fraud litigation, general business practices, corporate compliance, predatory lending practices, and estate planning.  He has lectured on the subject of law as it relates to the arts, and he authored a book on the topic, titled An Artist’s Guide to the Law (Hackett Publishing 2010).

Prior to joining the Law Offices of Leah V. Durant, Rich worked for other Washington, D.C., law firms. He was a Team Leader of Special Project Attorneys at Williams & Connolly, in which he supervised and trained attorney review team personnel engaged in high-profile complex litigation. He later served as of-counsel attorney to Andrew Grosso & Associates where he participated in various litigations, including federal multi-million-dollar corporate whistleblower cases.

Rich is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia, the State of Maryland, and the Commonwealth of Virginia, as well as the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, the U.S. District Court of the District of Maryland, and the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia.

Rich graduated the University of Arizona College of Law in 2002 and, while studying, also participated in the college’s Domestic Violence Law Clinic where he helped provide counseling and representation to victims of domestic violence. He was also a legal intern for Tucson Arizona’s City Attorney’s Office. In his final year of law school, Rich was Managing Editor of Arizona Law Review. He authored a writing of legal scholarship, titled Elvis Karaoke Shakespeare and the Search for a Copyrightable Stage Direction, which was the first student work selected by his law review peers for publication.

A graduate of the American University School of Communication, Rich had a noteworthy pre-law career as a television news reporter. He won six broadcast journalism awards, including an Emmy. He later accepted a position as a communications specialist for the University of Arizona, where he served as a publicist, writer, television producer, and chair of the interdisciplinary council that designed and administered the university’s primary website. During his tenure as chair, that council won the university’s Team Award for Excellence. Rich was also instrumental in conceiving, designing, and creating the first “virtual art exhibit” in the state of Arizona, an online exhibition of works in the collection of the University of Arizona Museum of Art.

In addition to his legal and communications background, Rich is an award-winning author of plays, musicals, novels, and short stories. He also sometimes acts in or directs stage shows in the D.C. area. Additionally, he is on the faculty of the Little Theatre of Alexandria, where he teaches dramatic writing.