Richard A. Kirby is a partner in the securities litigation practice at K&L Gates. He concentrates in complex corporate, securities, commercial, bankruptcy and administrative law issues through negotiation, alternative dispute resolution and litigation. He counsels clients on corporate restructuring, securities regulatory and accounting issues as well as personnel, capital formation and acquisition matters.
Richard has over a decade of experience in private practice representing targets of SEC, Justice Department, state and self–regulatory enforcement investigations as well as plaintiffs and defendants in private securities fraud actions. He also frequently represents creditors in restructuring and bankruptcy reorganization cases.
Richard served in the Office of the General Counsel of the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. where he briefed and argued more than 50 major securities cases. He oversaw SEC participation in reorganization cases under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code and supervised SEC regional office lawyers in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta who appeared in large public company cases around the country. He also oversaw the SEC representation in the bankruptcy reorganization case of the Drexel Burnham Lambert, Inc. and the administration of the related Drexel and Michael Milken private securities litigation settlement funds.
Between 1975–1978, he served in the U. S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps where he primarily handled appeals from Army courts–martial. He also lectured on criminal law at the Judge Advocate General's School at the University of Virginia.