Law Offices of Richard D. Cunningham
Attorney Biography
As the firm's sole attorney, Rick Cunningham has been a member in good standing of the State Bar of Texas since 1982, and of the American Bar Association since 1983. Rick currently is a member of the ABA Sections of International Law (since 1983), Business Law and Administrative Law, and he served as Vice Chairman, Special Committee on Satellite Technology of the ABA Section of Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law from 1986 to 1990.
Experience
Prior to launching his solo practice in 1998, Rick acquired extensive corporate and transactional experience both in senior in-house as well as outside counsel positions, gaining seasoned insight into the challenges that businesses currently face.
- Most recently (1996 to 1998), Rick served as Vice President and General Counsel for a privately held group of electronics, software and related manufacturing and distribution companies having approximately 120 employees, where he managed the legal aspects of all company operations, including contracts and commercial transactions, customer and vendor relations, intellectual property and litigation management, corporate transactions and administration, and employment and regulatory matters.
- From 1993 to 1996, as Associate General Counsel to a privately held international petroleum and financial group, Rick negotiated and implemented complex international project finance, venture capital, corporate and commercial transactions, including billion-dollar energy development projects in the former Soviet Union and South-central and Southeast Asia, while also handling multiple software technology development and acquisition transactions.
- As an Attorney in the international law department of a major petroleum company from 1990 to 1993, Rick exercised responsibility for the legal aspects of several large exploration and development projects, principally in the former Soviet Union and Southeast Asia, while also advising senior management on the matrix of U.S. government embargoes, asset controls, export restrictions and related restrictions and requirements concerning the conduct of international business.
- Prior to moving in-house, Rick practiced corporate and transactional law as an Associate in the Houston office of Vinson & Elkins from 1982 to 1990, gaining intensive experience negotiating and documenting large international energy industry acquisitions, divestitures and financings, as well as smaller domestic transactions in oil and gas, real estate and other general commercial matters.
The breadth and complexity of Rick's transactional experience, plus the perspective gained from providing innovative solutions to complex business requirements from inside the corporate environment, have made him especially effective at helping clients to meet ambitious company goals within limited company resources, and have made the firm a trusted legal advisor to corporate management and counsel.
Publications
Rick's longstanding interest in the relationship between law and technology is also reflected in his publications, which include R. Cunningham, B. Marks, R. Pruitt, E. Inadomi, eds, Earth Observation Systems: Legal Considerations for the 90's, (ABA and Am Soc Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing, 1990); R. Cunningham and E. Inadomi, Special Committee on Satellite Technology 1989 Report, 6 Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law: The Year in Review 337 (ABA and Nat'l Energy Law & Policy Inst, 1990); R. Cunningham, Space Commerce and Secured Financing -- New Frontiers for the U.C.C., 40 Bus Law 803 (1985); R. Cunningham, Comment, Apportionment between Partmakers and Assemblers in Strict Liability, 49 U Chi L Rev 544 (1982).
Education
Rick obtained his Juris Doctor in 1982 from the University of Chicago Law School, in Chicago, Illinois, where he served both as a member and as Associate Editor of the University of Chicago Law Review, and where he was admitted to Phi Delta Phi.
Prior to obtaining his law degree, Rick studied at Texas A&M University, in College Station, Texas, where he graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science in economics, magna cum laude, with minors in finance, mathematics and English, and where he was admitted to Phi Kappa Phi, Omicron Delta Epsilon, and Phi Eta Sigma.