About H. Richmond “Rich” Fisher, JD

Rich Fisher, JD is an organizational consultant, mediator, and attorney in Seattle, Washington.

He is the author of two books and several training programs on innovative dispute resolution, including one that has been approved by the Washington Bar Association for 2 hours of Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Credit.

Legal Background and Experience

Rich served as the first federal judicial law clerk to U. S. District Court Chief Judge and FBI Director William S. Sessions, as Legal Counsel to the Solicitor of the National Labor Relations Board, and as a Trial Attorney in the Admiralty and Aviation Section, Civil Division, U. S. Department of Justice. There, Rich represented the Federal Aviation Administration in air crash litigation, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers in inland waterway lock and dam collision cases, and the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the U. S. Coast Guard in maritime litigation. Rich has been in the private practice of law in Phoenix, Arizona and in Seattle, Washington and has 18 years of litigation experience, which includes insurance defense, complex civil litigation, multi-district litigation, and civil

rights cases.

Rich’s first law journal article, “The Seventh Amendment and the Common Law: No Magic in Numbers,” 56 FRD 507 (1974), was used as the basis of the U. S. Supreme Court opinion in Colgrove v. Battin, 413 U. S. 149 (1974), which held that juries of six persons in federal court civil cases comported with the Seventh Amendment guarantee of the right to trial by jury.

Rich represented “Marie,” plaintiff in the civil rights case depicted in the 2019 Netflix film series “Unbelievable.” The case is D.M. v. O’Leary, NO: 2:13-cv-971, U. S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, 2013.

The case inspired journalism whose authors, Ken Armstrong of the Marshall Project and T. Christian Miller of ProPublica, were awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Exploratory Reporting and the 2015 George Polk Award for Justice Reporting for their article entitled “An Unbelievable Story of Rape,” which was published online in 2015. The case and the article improved the way police departments nation wide investigate crimes of sexual

assault. The case and the article also inspired a podcast produced by the National Public Radio program This American Life entitled “Anatomy of Doubt,” which was broadcast on February 27, 2017.

Partnering, Dispute Resolution, and Organizational Consulting Experience

Rich, through his consulting firm, Win Win Resolution, has more than 20 years experience providing Partnering, Dispute Resolution, Strategic Planning, and other organizational consulting services to help businesses and public agencies resolve conflict and develop successful collaborative relationships to implement public

policy initiatives and complete large, complex military construction projects and public works construction projects on schedule and on budget in an atmosphere of teamwork and trust for projects up to $1.8 Billion in values. In addition to Partnering, Dispute Resolution, and Strategic Planning, the services include, Active Listening, Dialogue, Creative Problem-Solviing, and Collaborative Citizen Team Building and Problem-Solving

process.

Rich has provided organizational consulting services to the following industries: construction, defense, education, environmental, government, healthcare, publishing, transit, transportation, and wastewater treatment. plants.

Rich has also provided organizational consulting services to the following organizations: 15 Districts, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. 7 U. S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command organizations, 8 State Departments of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, BNSF Railway, the Union Pacific Railroad, Sound Transit, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and 5 Universities.

Representative private sector clients have included Jacobs Engineering, CH2MHill, Hensel Phelps Construction, Whiting-Turner Construction, Swinerton Construction, MA Mortenson Co., Skanska USA Building, Inc., WM Schlosser Co. Inc., American Whole Health, Inc., and Neonatiology Associates, Inc.

Rich’s expertise includes the following skills:

• Helping severly conflicted partnerships, project teams, and organizations resolve their differences and (1) get “back on track“ to success or (2) reinvent their business to take advantage of new opportunities; and
• Design and facilitate Partnering Sessions and Collaborative Citizen Team Building and Problem-Solving Sessions that include numerous large organizations, each with many divisions, departments, and offices, etc.

Community Dialogue and Mediation Sessions on the Middle East Peace Process and the Press Coverage of the U. S. War in Iraq at Town Hall in Seattle, Washington

Rich helped organize and facilitate these two events.

1. “Reviewing the Middle East Peace Process,” including interfaith clergy, the Compassionate Listening Project, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Congressman Jim McDermott, 25 trained mediator-facilitators and 200 participants, April 2002.
2. “Press Coverage of the Iraq War: Fair and Balanced?” In partnership with the Washington News Council and including leading Seattle journalists from radio, TV, print, and internet, and 200 participants. March, 2003.

Publications