Richard "Rick" H. Deane Jr., of counsel in the Firm's Investigations & White Collar Defense Practice and resident in the Atlanta Office, has been honored by the Atlanta Business Chronicle with its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Lifetime Achievement Award for 2023. The award honors an individual who has "devoted a major portion of their professional life to enhancing the practice of equality and diversity, making significant, innovative and cumulatively outstanding contributions to the cause."
Mr. Deane's practice includes representing clients who are facing all types of criminal or civil investigations by the Department of Justice and other investigative agencies. He has extensive experience in federal grand jury investigations, trying cases in state and federal courts and appearing before the Fifth and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal. He served as lead counsel in defending criminal charges against a major design-build company. All charges against the company were dismissed, and the company paid a civil assessment. He also served as lead counsel in a month-long personal injury case tried in state court to a complete defense verdict. Mr. Deane, who also handles general litigation matters, is the former Partner-in-Charge of the Atlanta Office and former co-chair of the Investigations & White Collar Defense Practice.
Prior to joining Jones Day, Mr. Deane served under President Clinton as U.S. Attorney for Northern District of Georgia, where he built on the legacy of diverse hiring begun by his predecessor, adding women and lawyers of color to help the office reflect the community it served. He also had a keen focus on prosecuting notorious sex traffickers who preyed on women and children, leading Time magazine to list him among its "100 Innovators" for his creative use of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act statutes to prosecute those cases.
Mr. Deane is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers, serves on the College's executive committee, and is its first African American president-elect. He was chosen by the State Bar of Georgia's bench and bar committee as the lawyer recipient of the 12th annual Chief Justice Thomas O. Marshall Professionalism Award. The award honors "one lawyer and one judge who have demonstrated the highest professional conduct and paramount reputation for professionals." He also received the Atlanta Bar Association's Leadership Award in 2016 and the Thomas J. Waldrop Truth & Justice Award in recognition of his representation of Atlanta School Superintendent Dr. Beverly Hall during the Atlanta cheating scandal. He is a past president of the National Association of Former United States Attorneys.
Mr. Deane's pro bono work focuses on issues related to racial justice both nationally and regionally. His recent high-profile representation of two clients who were stopped and interrogated by police as they were attempting to board planes at an Atlanta airport garnered national media attention, as research indicates that these stops are largely based on race and, therefore, unconstitutional.
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