Attorney Rick Buchwalter, Civil Litigation, Business Law
Former State Attorney's Assistant
Former Florida Prosecutor
Former Assistant Corporate Counsel Raymond James Financial, Inc.
Attorney Rick Buchwalter has
been practicing law in the Tampa Bay area for almost two decades. Due to
his broad legal experience, Rick is as equally comfortable in the courtroom as
he is in the corporate boardroom.
Mr. Buchwalter
is a former corporate executive and in-house legal counsel for Raymond James & Associates,
Inc. and Raymond James Financial, Inc. During the 7 year period he was
employed there, Rick negotiated, drafted and reviewed numerous business agreements,
including the company’s office leases throughout the United States, its
contracts with its equipment and service providers and the contracts related
to the construction of the most recent additions to its international headquarters. He
also managed all of the company’s collection activities and had exclusive
responsibility for enforcement of the company’s employee non-solicitation
and non-competition agreements. During a period of approximately one and
a half years, Rick appeared as lead counsel in sixteen arbitrations hearings
representing the company and its financial advisors, obtained arbitration awards
in excess of 1.3 million dollars and negotiated settlements resulting in collecting
in excess of $1,000,000.
As an Assistant
State Attorney for Pinellas and Pasco counties, Rick prosecuted a wide variety
of criminal cases. These include capital crimes, financial crimes and traffic
homicides. During his 7 years serving as a state prosecutor, he served
as lead counsel in over 100 trials and hearings. In addition, Rick received
special assignment to the office’s traffic homicide squad and, prior to
the development of the special domestic violence court, as the attorney responsible
for prosecuting contempt hearings for domestic injunction violations. Two
of his cases garnered national attention, including one case featured on CNN and one case featured on 20/20.
Prior to
joining the Law Office of Sonny Im, Rick was a sole practitioner who concentrated
in the areas of business law and civil litigation. He continues to practice
in these areas, as well as personal injury and criminal defense.
|
