Information
Richard Cassidy
Lawyer, Mediator and ArbitratorHoff Curtis
P.O. Box 1124, 100 Main St.
Burlington, VT 05402
802-864-6400
802-860-1565
rcassidy@hoffcurtis.com
http://www.hoffcurtis.com
About Me:
Richard T. Cassidy
Director
rcassidy@hoffcurtis.com
Experience
Richard T. Cassidy has more than 27 years of experience in the practice of law in Vermont. He served as law clerk to the Honorable Robert W. Larrow of the Vermont Supreme Court in 1978-79, and as Chief Law Clerk to Chief Justice Albert W. Barney in 1979-80. He is a 1975 graduate of the University of Vermont and a 1978 graduate of Albany Law School. He has been in private practice in the Burlington area since 1980 and was a founder of his law firm in 1989.
Mr. Cassidy's early practice experience was general in nature. Since 1982, his practice has focused on civil litigation, and in particular on labor and employment, personal injury, and commercial cases. He has significant experience with litigation and arbitration involving higher education, health care, and manufacturing. His clients have included many college and university students, faculty, and administrators. For many years he has served as general counsel to the Vermont State Colleges Faculty Federation, AFL-CIO Local 3180. His labor union clients also include the Chauffeurs, Teamsters, Warehousemen and Helpers Union No 597, the Vermont Federation of Nurse and Health Professionals, UPV/AFT, United Professions of Vermont and UVM United Academics - AFT/AAUP, the faculty union at the University of Vermont.
He also counsels individuals, businesses, governmental agencies, and not-for-profit entities on a broad range of legal issues. He serves as general counsel to the Selenium-Tellurium Development Association, an international trade association.
Mr. Cassidy firmly believes that the best representation and advice comes from the most objective perspective that a legal professional can attain. He has represented all sides in all kinds of disputes: plaintiff and defendants, employers and employees, injured parties and insurance companies. He believes that the breadth of his experience benefits all of his clients.
In addition to his work as a litigator and counselor, he has served as a mediator and arbitrator and is a member of the Panel of Early Neutral Evaluators for the United States District Court for the District of Vermont and the early neutral evaluation panels for the Vermont Environmental Court and a number of Vermont Superior Courts.
Mr. Cassidy is admitted to practice before the bars of the State of Vermont, the State of New York, the United States District Court for the District of Vermont, the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court.
Mr. Cassidy was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2008 in the field of Labor and Employment Law, Individuals, (Copyright 2007 by Woodward/White, Inc. of Aiken, S.C.) and in the 2007 edition of Super Lawyers®, in the fields of Employment and Labor Law, Personal Injury Plaintiff: General, and Alternative Dispute Resolution (Copyright 2007 by Law & Politics of Minneapolis, MN).
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(Listing in The Best Lawyers in America® or Super Lawyers does not guarantee a desired result in a legal case or that listed lawyers are necessarily more skilled than lawyers who are not listed in such publications.)
Reported Cases
Mr. Cassidy has served as lead counsel in many reported cases including:
• Villeneuve v. Town of Waterville, 141 Vt. 154, 446 A.2d 358 (1982);
• Wilson v. Smith, 144 Vt. 358, 477 A.2d 964 (1984);
• In re Vermont Health Service Corp., 144 Vt. 617, 482 A.2d 294 (1984);
• Kaplan v. City of Burlington, 891 F.2d 1024 (2d Cir. 1989), cert. denied, 496 U.S. 926 (1990);
• Chabad-Lubavitch of Vermont v. City of Burlington, 936 F.2d 109 (2d Cir. 1991), cert. denied, 505 U.S 1218 (1992);
• Vermont State Colleges Faculty Federation v. Vermont State Colleges, 159 Vt. 619, 616 A.2d 221, 79 Ed. Law Rep. 127 (1992);
• Ballard v. University of Vermont, 166 Vt. 612; 693 A.2d 713 (1997);
• Knight v. Town of North Hero, 971 F.Supp. 155 (D.Vt. 1997);
• Brueckner v. Norwich University, 169 Vt. 118, 730 A.2d 1086 (1999);
• Organic Cow, LLC v. Northeast Dairy Compact Com'n, 46 F.Supp.2d 298
(D.Vt.1999);
• The Organic Cow, LLC v. Northeast Dairy Compact Com'n, 164 F.Supp.2d 412 (D.Vt. 2001) rev’d sub nom., Organic Cow, LLC v. Center For New England Dairy Compact Research, 335 F.3d 66 (2d Cir.2003);
• In re Grievance of Verderber, 173 Vt. 612, 795 A.2d 1157, 164 Ed. Law Rep. 350 (2002);
• Goodnow v. Palm, 264 F.Supp.2d 125 (D.Vt. 2003);
• United Academics, AAUP/AFT v. University of Vermont, 2004 VT 177; and
• Provost v. Fletcher Allen Health Care, Inc., 2004 VT 185.
• Barber v. Saint Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., 2006 WL 2662853 ( D.Vt. Sept. 14, 2006.)
Publications & Seminars
Mr. Cassidy is a frequent writer and speaker on legal topics. His essay, "Civil and Human Rights," was published in Vermont State Government Since 1965 (M. Sherman ed. 1999). He has lectured on trial practice, employment, arbitration, mediation, and construction law subjects before the American Bar Association, the National Employment Lawyers' Association, the Vermont Bar Association, the Vermont Trial Lawyers Association, and the Vermont Employment Lawyers' Association.
Professional Activities
Mr. Cassidy has been active in public and professional matters.
He was a long-time member of the Vermont Board of Bar Examiners, serving as an Associate Examiner from August of 1991 until he became an Examiner in December of 1993. He Chaired the Board from October of 1995 until October of 2004.
In 1994, he was appointed by the Governor as a Vermont Commissioner to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, where he served as a member of the Drafting Committee on the Model Punitive Damages Act, the Drafting Committee on the Revised Uniform Arbitration Act, the Drafting Committee on the Apportionment of Tort Responsibility Act and on the Scope & Program Committee. He presently chairs the Drafting Committee on Collateral Consequences of Conviction and the Committee on Liaison with the American Bar Association. He is a member of the Conference's Executive Committee.
He represented the Vermont Bar Association in the American Bar Association House of Delegates from 1999 through August of 2005 and served as a member of the ABA Board Governors from 2005 through 2008. He resumed representing the VBA in the House of Delegates as of August of 2008 and was appointed by ABA President H. Thomas Wells, Jr. to a three year term on the Standing Committee on the Delivery of Legal Services.
He is a Director and is the President of the American Counsel Association.
He served as the Chair of the Vermont Solid Waste and Air Quality Variance Board from 1993 through 2005.
In May of 2001, he was elected to the South Burlington School Board. He was re-elected in May of 2003, in May of 2006 and in March of 2009. He has served as Board Chair since May of 2007.