Ronald Richards (lawyer)

Ronald Richards
Born	Ronald Neil Richards
Nationality	American
Education	Beverly Hills High School
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles Anderson School at UCLA UCLA School of Law
Occupation	Defense attorney
Years active	July 1995 - present
Known for	Only lawyer to write on California Proposition 215 (1996)
Website	RonaldRichards.com

Ronald Richards is a Beverly Hills, California based defense attorney noted for both his high-profile and wide ranging portfolio of legal precedent setting client engagements, as well as his various media appearances as a legal expert commentator. The first lawyer to be cited on California Proposition 215 (1996), the medical marijuana statute, as well as previously working as a professor of law at the San Fernando Valley College of Law from 2006 to 2007, since 2011 Richards has sat as a temporary judge on the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Early life

Educated at Beverly Hills High School, he broke the institutes record for debate wins. He gained a BA in Political Science at University of California, Los Angeles, joining the debate team in CIDA where he won the national championship two years in a row. Whilst studying at the University of La Verne College of Law, he was elected Student Faculty Representative, and acted as advocate for students facing discipline. He also won the American Jurisprudence Award in bankruptcy.

In 2008 Richards earned a Certificate of Management from the Anderson School of Management.

Career

Richards was admitted to the State Bar of California in July 1995. Richards was a partner at Richards & Chemerinski from June 1995, during which time he became to date the only published attorney on California Proposition 215 (1996), the medical marijuana statute. His paper was later cited by West Publishing, and the California state-wide Health and Safety code annotations to 11362.5. Since The Peoplev.Kidwell, Richards has been qualified as an expert witness on marijuana in the Los Angeles Superior Court, since extended to cover MDMA and pseudo ephedrine.

In 2000, he formed Ronald Richards & Associates based in Beverly Hills. Acting mainly as a criminal defense attorney initially, the graduated to business litigation, he has since had numerous papers published in both state and federal courts. From August 2006 to January 2007, Richards also worked as a professor of law at the San Fernando Valley College of Law.

Notable cases

In 2000 in U.S v. Orgad, Richards represented Jacob “Cookie” Orgad (No. 00-344 FMC) and obtained a dismissal with prejudice as trial counsel due to the fact that Richards may have been a witness in the case. Ultimately, Mr. Orgad plead guilty without the aid of Richards in his New York case.

In 2003, in U.S.v.Tamer Adel IBRAHIM (No. 07-50153) Richards represented alleged drugs courier and dealer Tamer Adel Ibrahim. Alleged at the time to be involved in a worldwide ecstasyring, the case focused on a confiscation order of the seizure of $40M assets, considered to be the largest such confiscation in United States legal history. Richards successfully overturned the seizure ruling. After the forfeiture order was reversed, the government settled the case with Ibrahim and released him five years early.

In February 2011, in Peoplev.Troyer (2011 DJDAR2726) Richards filed a friend-of-the-court brief input to the case, stating that "judges evaluating police searches must look at whether police had an objectively reasonable basis to believe there was an emergency". The judge later ruled that the entry of local police in Sacramento County into the bedroom of Albert Troyer without a warrant was legal, covered by the emergency-aid exception to the Fourth Amendment's legal protections against unreasonable search and seizure.