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by Doug Brown
For
Virginia Business
December,
2003
Joseph
“Rick” Richmond Jr. is about as Virginia as
it gets. Born and raised in Charlottesville, he left
town only briefly for college at
Washington and Lee University. His
ties to his Charlottesville law firm of Richmond &
Fishburne go back to the 1940s when his father joined
the firm.
Joseph Richmond Jr. |
Today
Richmond, 59, is a senior partner, leading its land
use and real estate practice area. He lives just outside
Charlottesville, representing a wide range of clients
in the region. He’s also known across the state,
however, in part because of the volunteer work he does
for the Virginia State Bar, and for his role as a teacher
in continuing education courses for lawyers.
When
you talk to Richmond, he’ll tell you he’s
blessed to be able to practice law in Charlottesville,
a friendly town with a high quality of life. It’s
apparent that sensibility has rubbed off on his son,
too. In October, Joseph “Walker” Richmond,
a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law,
turned down offers from firms in Richmond, Washington,
D.C., and London to take a job in the 10-lawyer family
firm.
Far
from the style of a Washington legal leviathan, where
fleets of lawyers toil in relative anonymity for clients
they’ll never know, Richmond & Fishburne prizes
the relationships it has with people. “That personal
nature is one of the most important, if not the most
important, aspect of my practice,” says Richmond.
“It goes far beyond just a mere professional relationship.
You really find out about these people, you develop
friendships with them, and you do your best to represent
them. That’s the joy of practicing in a small firm
in a cosmopolitan community.”
Still,
he’s managed to move to the top of his field. Richmond
is a member of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers,
an elite group of about 850 lawyers in the United States,
Japan, Canada and England.
In
terms of cases, what Richmond finds most gratifying
is “helping a young couple buy their first house
or start a business and introducing them to the legal
profession,” he says. “If I can make the process
more friendly ... and instill confidence and respect
for our profession, I have accomplished one of my goals.”
Richmond doesn’t lose sleep at night over million-dollar
lawsuits. “I worry that I won’t recognize
or will forget the name of a client I see in a different
setting shortly after meeting the client.”
Colleagues
say Richmond has a knack for connecting with people.
“Rick is the type of guy who, when he comes into
a room, nobody is a stranger to him,” says Neil
Kessler, a partner with Troutman Sanders in Richmond.
“He will make everybody feel very comfortable,
and those people who he has not met before he enters
the room — when he leaves — they are friends
of his. He inspires confidence. He is a solid, down-to-earth
guy, very friendly, not flashy by any means but you
know who he is after he’s left, and you’ve
got a lot of respect for him.”
Richmond
is married and has three children, one living in California,
one teaching, and the other working in his firm. In
his spare time, he takes his mountain bike into the
hills, or goes for long rides on his road bike.
Return
to Virginia Business - December 2003
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