Richards Brandt

Focus and practice areas

The firm works across civil and business law from a base in Salt Lake City. Its practice pages name banking and finance, business bankruptcy and creditor rights, business and commercial litigation, and business transactions and corporate governance. The list runs on with family law, health care law, immigration law, insurance law, real estate, trusts and estates, and workers' compensation. The firm also handles litigation, motions and appeals, and transportation and commercial vehicle matters.

That spread covers courtroom work and transactional work together. In my opinion, the mix reads like a firm that keeps litigators and deal lawyers under one roof, so a client with a contract dispute and a client forming a company can each find help in the same place. The about page says the firm has served Utah and the Intermountain West for more than 40 years. The site does not list an exact founding year.

Business litigation and business transactions cover different sides of a company's legal needs. One involves disputes that can reach a courtroom, and the other involves the paperwork of forming and running a company. A firm that lists both can carry a client through a deal and then defend it if a dispute follows. The firm groups these under separate practice pages, and it adds motions and appeals as its own listed area for matters that move past a trial court.

How the team is built

Richards Brandt lists 12 lawyers, and their titles fall into three groups: shareholder, associate, and of counsel. Several lawyers carry a practice chair title tied to one field. Mark Sumsion chairs the workers' compensation practice as a shareholder. Barbara Melendez leads the immigration practice as of counsel, and Bobby Wright chairs the health care practice, also of counsel.

The associate ranks and the remaining of counsel lawyers fill out the roster. Peter Stamos is an associate who attended Lewis and Clark Law School. Alexis Palmer is also an associate, and Alexandria Westover is of counsel. Each attorney page lists a title and one or more practice areas, so a reader can see where a lawyer fits before making contact.

The three title tiers describe standing at the firm. A shareholder holds an ownership stake, an associate works as a salaried lawyer, and an of counsel lawyer keeps an ongoing working relationship with the firm. Six of the firm's twelve lawyers carry the shareholder title, two work as associates, and four hold of counsel roles.

Backgrounds of the shareholders

The shareholder group holds lawyers with long records in Utah. Matthew Barneck graduated from the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law in 1988, and he handles business litigation along with estate and trust litigation. Rafael Seminario studied at the same law school and has about 21 years of practice. Lori Hansen earned her law degree from California Western School of Law in 1993 and works on workers' compensation matters.

Steven Bergman has been a shareholder since 2011. He earned a law degree from the UCLA School of Law in 1995 and holds a master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Before he joined the firm he worked as counsel at O'Melveny and Myers and as an associate at Simpson Thacher and Bartlett, two firms with a national reach.

Christine Seminario is a shareholder whose work covers immigration and family law. She studied at the University of Utah and earned a law degree from Brigham Young University, and she also takes divorce and bankruptcy cases. Adam Affleck is of counsel and focuses on antitrust, bankruptcy, and business law, with a law degree from BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School.

Who the firm represents

The client list on the firm's pages runs wide. It names individuals, families, entrepreneurs, and small business owners on one side, and closely held entities, Fortune 500 companies, and government bodies on the other. Religious and nonprofit organizations appear on the list, as do health care professionals, insurance companies, and insured parties. The firm represents both plaintiffs and defendants.

As a reviewer, I read a client list this broad as a sign the firm takes work from several directions at once. A single insurance matter can involve an insurer, an insured party, and a health care professional, and the firm names all three among its clients. That range matches the number of practice areas on the site.

Insurance work often puts a firm on the defense side of a claim, and it can also mean advising an insurer on coverage. Richards Brandt names insurance companies and insured parties among its clients, so it works both angles of a coverage dispute. Transportation and commercial vehicle matters, another listed area, often tie into that same insurance work after a crash.

Practice chairs and regulated fields

Three of the firm's fields carry a named practice chair, and each field comes with its own rules and forums. A fourth area, family law, connects to this work through lawyers who handle more than one field.

Health care

Bobby Wright chairs this practice, and the firm counts health care professionals among its clients. Health care law in a state like Utah often involves licensing questions, provider contracts, and disputes with payers. It can bring a lawyer before state licensing boards as well as courts. Work of this kind runs inside a regulatory framework that changes with state and federal rules.

Immigration

Barbara Melendez leads this practice and works on family and employment immigration. Her stated work includes employment immigration compliance, inter-company transfers, temporary and permanent work visas, and investment visa applications. Employment immigration usually moves through federal agencies, and cases follow agency timelines. Her client list includes multinational corporations, educational institutions, and religious organizations.

Workers' compensation

Mark Sumsion chairs this field, and Lori Hansen also practices in it. Workers' compensation claims in Utah generally proceed through an administrative process, with medical evidence and wage records at the center. A hearing before an administrative judge follows when the parties disagree. Two lawyers on staff in the same field give the practice some depth.

Family law

Christine Seminario handles family law along with her immigration work. Family law cases in Utah run through the state district courts, and they often turn on custody, support, and the division of property. These matters can settle through negotiation, and they can also reach a judge when spouses cannot agree. The firm pairs this work with immigration, which helps families whose questions cross both fields.

Where the firm operates

Everything runs from one office in downtown Salt Lake City, and the firm's stated reach covers Utah and the wider Intermountain West. More than 40 years in that region gives the firm a long working history with local courts and agencies. In my opinion, a single-office structure can keep one team on a matter through its whole life. The firm keeps its 12 lawyers and every listed practice area at that one address.