Fields, Richard C.

Current Employment Position(s)

Partner

Year Joined Organization: 1966

Languages

• English

Lawyer Overview

With more than 45 years' experience in litigation and dispute resolution, Mr. Fields focuses his practice in the areas of labor and employment, health care, insurance, and general commercial litigation, as well as alternative dispute resolution. Mr. Fields has tried over 150 cases in state and federal courts throughout the Mountain States and the Pacific Northwest as well as resolving hundreds of other cases short of trial. He has arbitrated insurance coverage, contract and construction disputes and mediated cases involving personal injury, products liability, wrongful discharge, discrimination, insurance claims, and general commercial disputes. He also served for many years as general counsel for the state's largest health care provider. In labor, employment, and health care law, as well as commercial litigation, Mr. Fields is listed in The Best Lawyers in America. Prior to joining Moffatt Thomas in 1966, he served several years as a staff attorney with the National Labor Relations Board.

Some examples of Mr. Fields' experience include:

• Managing the judicial confirmation proceeding that validated an agreement between two regional hospital entities to build and operate a new hospital to replace two outdated community hospitals.
• Successfully representing a large corporation in an arbitration proceeding in which the employees' union challenged the company's incentive compensation system.
• Successfully defending both individual and corporate defendants in wrongful death, personal injury, professional malpractice, products liability, breach of contract, and insurance bad faith lawsuits.
• Representing employers in wrongful termination and discrimination litigation, collective bargaining, union prevention, employment policy development, employee benefit counseling, supervisor training, employee handbook preparation, and corporate downsizing.

Mr. Fields has been a member of the U.S. District Court mediation and arbitration panels, the American Arbitration Association panels, the Idaho State Bar, and the American Bar Association. He has been active in the Idaho State Bar's Professionalism and Ethics, Employment Law, Health Care Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution Sections and the American Bar Association's Labor and Employment, Health Care, and Alternative Dispute Resolution Sections.

He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, serving as the state chairman from 1993-1995. Mr. Fields is an active member and has served as past president of the Idaho State Bar, the Idaho Association of Defense Counsel, the Idaho chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, Western States Bar Conference, and Jackrabbit States Bar and as membership chairman for the Idaho Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. He also participated as a member of the American Employment Law Council and the American Academy of Healthcare Attorneys. He is admitted to the Colorado State Bar, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Idaho State Bar, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He served a three-year term as lawyer representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference and was a member of the U.S. District Court's Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Committee. In addition, Mr. Fields is an active member and past president of the Boise Rotary Club, the Boise Philharmonic Association for which he served as president from 1994-1996, the Salvation Army Advisory Board, and other professional, civic, and community organizations. He was Rotary district governor from 1999 2000.

He is the initial chairman of the Advisory Council for the Concordia University School of Law and past chairman of the Ada County EMS Advisory Board, which set up the state's first paramedic service. He is also past chairman of the Learning Lab, an adult and family literacy program.

Mr. Fields is the recipient of professional awards, including the Idaho State Bar's Outstanding Service Award (1990), Professionalism Award (1992), and Distinguished Lawyer Award (2000), as well as an Exemplary Service Award from the Federal Bar Association (2008). He has also received the Citation for Meritorious Service from the Rotary Foundation at Rotary International and the William Booth Award from the Salvation Army.

Mr. Fields received his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, in economics from Harvard University and his law degree, Order of St. Ives, from the University of Denver College of Law.

Areas of Practice

• Administrative Hearings & Adjudication
• Affirmative Action -- Employer
• Age Discrimination
• Americans with Disabilities Act -- Employer
• Arbitration
• Bad Faith
• Collective Bargaining
• Defamation & Privacy -- Defense
• Dental Malpractice
• Elder Law
• Employee Rights -- Employer
• Employment Contracts -- Employer
• Employment Discrimination -- Employer
• Errors & Omissions Insurance
• Ethics
• Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) -- Employer
• Federal Appellate Practice
• Federal Trial Practice
• Fidelity, Guarantee & Surety
• Hospital Law
• Insurance Malpractice
• Labor Arbitration
• Labor Disputes
• Labor Relations Boards & Proceedings
• Legal Malpractice
• Mediation
• Medical Malpractice
• Mini-trials
• Motor Vehicle Accidents -- Defense
• Other Professionals Malpractice
• Premises Liability -- Defense
• Professional Responsibility
• Property & Casualty
• Property Damage -- Defense
• Race Discrimination
• Railroad Accidents -- Defense
• Religious Discrimination
• Sex Discrimination
• Sexual Harassment
• Sexual Harassment -- Employer
• Slip and Fall -- Defense
• State Appellate Practice
• State Trial Practice
• Unfair Labor Practices
• Wage & Hour Laws
• Wage & Hour Laws -- Employer
• Whistleblower -- Employer
• Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act
• Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act -- Employer
• Wrongful Death -- Defense
• Wrongful Termination -- Employer

West Practice Categories

Administrative Hearings & Adjudication, Arbitration, Mediation, Mini-trials, Age Discrimination, Race Discrimination, Religious Discrimination, Sex Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Affirmative Action -- Employer, Americans with Disabilities Act -- Employer, Employee Rights -- Employer, Employment Contracts -- Employer, Employment Discrimination -- Employer, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) -- Employer, Sexual Harassment -- Employer, Wage & Hour Laws -- Employer, Whistleblower -- Employer, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act -- Employer, Wrongful Termination -- Employer, Elder Law, Ethics, Professional Responsibility, Hospital Law, Bad Faith Insurance, Errors & Omissions Insurance, Fidelity, Guarantee & Surety, Insurance Malpractice, Property & Casualty, Collective Bargaining, Labor Arbitration, Labor Disputes, Labor Relations Boards & Proceedings, Unfair Labor Practices, Wage & Hour Laws, Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, Federal Appellate Practice, Federal Trial Practice, State Appellate Practice, State Trial Practice, Defamation & Privacy -- Defense, Motor Vehicle Accidents -- Defense, Premises Liability -- Defense, Property Damage -- Defense, Railroad Accidents -- Defense, Slip and Fall -- Defense, Wrongful Death -- Defense, Dental Malpractice, Legal Malpractice, Medical Malpractice, Other Professionals Malpractice

Bar Admissions

• Idaho, 1964
• U.S. District Court District of Idaho, 1964
• U.S. District Court District of Colorado, 1964
• Colorado, 1966
• U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit
• U.S. Court of Appeals 10th Circuit

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Boise Rotary Club, 1993 - 1994 (Club President)
• Boise Rotary Club, 1999 - 2000 (District Governor)
• Boise Philharmonic Association, 1994 - 1996 (President)
• Salvation Army Advisory Board, 1973 - Present (Member)
• Learning Lab, 2001 - 2002 (President)
• Idaho State Bar, 1980 - 1983 (Commissioner)
• Idaho State Bar, 1982 (President)
• Jackrabbit States Bar, 1986 (Commissioner)
• Western States Bar Conference, 1989 - 1990 (President)
• Ada County EMS Advisory Board, 1979 - 1981 (Chairman)
• Idaho State Bar Professionalism & Ethics Section, 2001 - 2003 (Chair)
• Boise City Civil Service Commission, 1994 - Present (Member)

Honors and Awards

• Idaho State Bar's Outstanding Service Award, 1990
• Professionalism Award, 1992
• Salvation Army Williams Booth Award
• Distinguished Lawyer Award

Classes and Seminars

• Nursing and the Law, Boise State University
• Numerous Employment Law, Health Law and Litigation, Idaho State Bar & Law Foundation, 1975 - 2005

Pro Bono Activities

• Idaho Volunteer Lawyers Program
• Idaho Partners for Justice, Executive Committee

Past Employment Positions

• National Labor Relations Board, Staff Attorney, 1964 - 1966
• The Martin Company, Editorial Seroicer Supervisor, 1960 - 1964
• The Associated Press, Reporter/Editor, 1952 - 1960

Education

• University of Denver College of Law, Denver, Colorado, 1964
  J.D.
  Honors: With Honors
  Honors: Order of St. Ives
• Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1952
  B.A.
  Honors: magna cum laude
  Major: Economics

Address

101 S. Capitol Blvd., 10th Floor
P.O. Box 829
Boise, ID 83701-0829

Phones

(208) 385-5405

Faxes

(208) 385-5384

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.moffatt.com