Rich holds a degree in the Science in Marketing Management as well as a Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine School of Law, which he obtained in 1975.
He practiced law for 40 years in SoCal, mainly focusing on business, corporate, wills/trusts, and domestic law clients for the first 5 years. During this same time he began representing homeowner associations, as well as homeowners, and gradually his practice evolved into exclusively homeowner associations. He represented some of the largest HOAs in the state of CA. For the first 25 years of practice he did a number of trials, always to a judge, not a jury.
Rich has authored more than a dozen successful appellate briefs and has had five of them published, creating law in California. For more than 25 years, he lobbied the California legislature for specific language in new laws, which would help not only his clients, but also those owners living in HOAs.
Acting as the Attorney for HOA, Rich was constantly involved in creating and reviewing documents including, but not limited to, contracts of every sort, easements, agreements, and use restrictions. Rich’s opposite number was often representing a public utility, another HOA, a homeowner, and/or a government entity.
Rich was given a prestigious honor by his peers and was inducted as a member of the inaugural class of members of Community Association Institute’s College of Community Association Lawyers. Twenty years later, this world wide College has just a few more than 120 lawyer members.
Rich has taught HOA managers and lawyers on many subjects during legal seminars on both the West and East Coast. He possesses a permanent license from the State of California to teach business law at the community college level. Additionally, he was approved by the California Department of Real Estate to teach law classes as part of the certification of property managers.