Rich Newsome is the senior partner of the Newsome Melton law firm. He is a trial lawyer and represents people and families in complex civil litigation.
After graduating from the University of Florida College of Law in 1989, Rich worked as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Northern and Middle Districts of Florida. Rich left the U.S. Attorney's Office in 1993 and went to work for a large product liability defense firm in Orlando, Florida where he represented manufacturers. After defending a manufacturer in a case brought by a family who lost a child in a motor vehicle collision, Rich felt compelled to leave the defense practice and began representing only families and individuals. Since then, for more than 25 years, Rich's practice has focused on representing people who have suffered catastrophic or fatal injuries.
In 2001, Rich was appointed by Governor Jeb Bush to the Fifth District Court of Appeals Judicial Nominating Commission and served as the JNC's Chairman during his term. He is a Past-President of the Orlando Federal Bar Association, Past-President of the Florida Justice Association, Past-Member of the Board of Governors of the American Association for Justice, Past-President of the Central Florida Trial Lawyers Association, and is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocacy (ABOTA).
Rich is a graduate of the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyer's College and was invited to serve as a member of the College Faculty. Rich is a member of the Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Oregon, and U.S. Virgin Islands Bar Associations.
Rich was selected as the “Orlando Personal Injury Lawyer of the Year†by Best Lawyers, a peer review publication. In 2015, Rich received the Steven C. Sharpe Public Service Award from the American Association for Justice, in recognition of his representation of Corey Burdick who was severely injured by a defective Takata airbag. The Steven C. Sharpe Award is awarded annually to one attorney and their client.
In 2017, Rich was appointed to the Constitution Revision Commission by Richard Corcoran, the Speaker of Florida's House of Representatives. The 37 member Commission drafted and submitted 32 amendments to the Florida Constitution which were placed on the ballot and approved by Florida voters to be part of the Florida Constitution in November 2018.
In 2019, Rich was recognized by the National Law Journal as having won two of the Nation's 100 largest verdicts in 2018.
Rich is the President of the Central Florida Chapter of ABATE of Florida, Inc., a motorcycle safety and advocacy charity. Rich is also President of the American Council of Motorcycle Attorneys (ACMA), a national association of lawyers who represent motorcycle riders.
Rich is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Trial Lawyers Association, the International Order of Barristers, and the Summit Council. All of these groups are invitation-only organizations who limit membership to the most elite trial lawyers in the country.
Rich is a founding faculty member of Trial School, Inc., a not-for-profit organization which seeks to foster collaboration between lawyers on today's best trial advocacy methods and to provide free education and practice for trial lawyers who exclusively represent people and families.
