Recognized as a Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated attorney and a Northern California Super Lawyer, Partner Rick Williams offers more than 40 years of complex litigation experience, including class action matters. He has tried over 40 cases to verdict in both state and federal courts, and his practice covers a breadth of litigation matters, including product and premises liability, catastrophic and other personal injury, public entity defense, professional negligence, real estate, intellectual property, employment and unfair business practices.
Rick represents a range of clients, including insurance companies, self-insured organizations and third-party administrators, small to mid-size businesses, higher education organizations, major grocery stores, school districts, contractors, property management firms and funeral industry professionals (mortuaries, cemeteries and crematories).
Most recently, he represented a major commercial crane company in a catastrophic personal injury case venued in Santa Clara County that involved the partial amputation of the foot of a construction worker. The case arose out of the alleged negligent “tripping” of structural steel beams by the crane company, causing the worker’s foot to be crushed. The case was settled very favorably for Gray·Duffy‘s client several weeks before the trial. Rick also participated as General Counsel for a large Northern California cemetery, mortuary and crematory in successful negotiations with the City of Oakland for the design and construction of modern improvements to the cemetery and its facilities, which involved both architectural and engineering design and environmental compliance issues.
With extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution, Rick has been involved in more than 900 cases as an acting judge pro tem, special master, arbitrator or mediator. He has been trained by and mediated cases for the First, Second and Sixth District Courts of Appeal, has over 160 hours of training by the Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law, and currently sits on mediation panels of the San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara County Superior Courts. He maintains an active private mediation practice in San Mateo County in
Gray·Duffy‘s Redwood City office.
In the community, Rick has led trial advocacy seminars for continuing education courses (CEB, ALI and ADC) as well as instructed classes in law and our court system to local high school students. He has also coached high school football and baseball.
