Rick Wirick

Full Profile

Rick Wirick joined Clyde & Co from a nationwide law firm where he was partner. For many years he was associated with the coverage department of a leading law firm in California, building that practice area for over 13 years and prevailing on multiple dispositive motions and bench trials in unique new frontiers of this specialty. 

Historically, his training was in coverage litigation for mass environmental torts, specifically Superfund agency-issued site cleanup orders which eventually went into the Powerine I and II lines of cases and their progeny. He was involved in the Shell Oil case, the first large environmental coverage action to be tried to a successful verdict by insurers, as well as FMC, Purex, Martin-Marietta, and Aerojet. Once the pollution exclusion began to be enforced by California courts, he moved on to asbestos coverage analysis and now conducts coverage litigation in the similar area of silicosis and the mining and distribution of products alleged to contain hazardous materials.

Rick also has significant first-party coverage experience for both commercial and residential risks. He additionally welcomes the challenges of personal and advertising injury litigation, business interruption (“time sensitive”) cases, kidnap and ransom, and entertainment event coverages. Rick has been involved in scores of direct defense cases, representing municipalities and other public entities. He also has experience defending professional (attorneys, accountants) liability matters for attorneys and accountants.

Before law school, Rick was trained as a journalist at The New York Times, editing for the sports department. He has served as an editor at several other publications. He continues to contribute essays and commentary on social affairs for a wide variety of publications in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, many of which have been collected in trade titles with major publishers. He has served as Book Editor and contributed over 50 essay-reviews to the L.A. Daily Journal and is a voting member of the National Book Critics Circle.

Admissions

• California

Education

• A.B., cum laude, University of California, Berkeley, 1978
• J.D., University of California, Davis, 1984. Associate Editor, Law Review.

Memberships

• California Bar Association (1984)
• Claims Management Institute, Senior Member
• CLM Claims College, Invited Faculty Member (Chicago, Illinois)
• Professional Liability Underwriting Society, Senior Member
• American Bar Association, Insurance Coverage and Toxic Tort sections
• American Board of Trial Advocacy

Experience

• Powerine Oil Co. v. Superior Court (2005) 47 Cal.4th 377 (construction of defense and indemnity clauses of CGL policies tendered for coverage of pollution liabilities)
• Montrose Chemical Corp. v. Superior Court (1995) 10 Cal.4th 645 (amicus curiae brief on behalf of several insurers re: scope of duty to defend under CGL policies)
• Privatera v. California Board of Medical Quality Assurance (9th Cir. 1991), 926 F. 3d 890 (reversal of trial court ruling denying 1983 protections to alternative healthcare provider)
• AIU v. Superior Court (FMC Corp.) 51 Cal.3d 807 (1990) (construction of “as damages” clause in CGL policies)

Publications

• “SCOTUS’ unseen hand and the perils of the ‘shadow docket,’” Daily Journal, July 17, 2024
• “Remembering Navalny,” Daily Journal, March 4, 2024
• “A Danish giant in ‘The Copenhagen Trilogy,’” Daily Journal, August 30, 2023
• “’Red Memory,’” Daily Journal, June 6, 2023
• “At play in the real and the virtual,” Daily Journal, February 10, 2022
• “Aunt Mildred and the Gestapo,” Daily Journal, September 15, 2021
• “Liberalism’s bloody backstories,” Daily Journal, June 25, 2021
• “The Pistol Patriarchs,” Daily Journal, June 4, 2021
• “Words aflame,” Daily Journal, May 17, 2021
• “Neither by fire nor ice,” Daily Journal, March 11, 2021
• “Men made out of words,” Daily Journal, February 12, 2021