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Profile: Richard Ormond By Ormond, Richard* The past two years have been two of the busiest years of my life both personally and professionally. Between becoming a new father and building a successful practice focused on receivership law and issues, I have never had so much fun in my life. My first exposure to the world of Receivers began during my first year of law school at the University of San Diego in the early 1990s, when I received a grim call from my father asking me if I could go to the law school library and look up “what is a receiver?” At the time my father was an investor in a real property deal that was about go into receivership. Research quickly taught me that a receiver was not a football player but rather a court officer, appointed usually at the request of a secured creditor or regulatory agency, typically tasked with seizing and preserving assets pending completion of ongoing litigation. After that call and all through law school, I became fascinated with the powers and responsibilities of a court appointed “neutral” party inserted into the middle of a dispute to protect and preserve assets. Being fluent in Spanish, I was torn between my vision of myself as a future “international transactions” attorney, and focusing on insolvency, receivership and bankruptcy—topics that I found to be extremely interesting and challenging. The job market in 1999 and the dot-com bust, took me to a first job with a small West Los Angeles law firm that had a litigation/bankruptcy department which regularly sought the appointment of receivers. I then moved on to a boutique bankruptcy firm that focused primarily on Chapter 7 trustee representation (and some receivership matters), where I had the fortunate opportunity to learn from David Gill, one of the leaders in the area of neutrals. Now, nearly 15 years after that phone call from my father, I am a shareholder with Buchalter Nemer where I represent lenders, special servicers, provisional directors and receivers. Some of my representative clients include major national and regional banks and other financial institutions, as well as respected and prominent receivers (many of whom I met through the California Receivers Forum). My journey to Buchalter introduced me to my friend and partner, Michael Wachtell, to whom I owe, in great part, my career and success as an attorney. He is a wonderful friend and mentor and has taught me how to be a better lawyer. ********************* My father was a professional race car driver from Argentina, and my mother, an English teacher, which probably explains my competitive nature and my love of reading. I grew up in Long Beach, California in a home where Spanish was spoken so that my sisters and I would be fluent while we used English at school and with friends. This has given me the advantage of being totally proficient in Spanish, allowing me to work with many of our Spanish-speaking clients. I attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School, where my kicking skills acquired playing soccer allowed me to be the kicker for the school’s football team. I played alongside future NFL superstars like Willie McGinnis of USC and New England Patriots fame. My crowning achievement on the field was a 47-yard field goal against Banning High School. From there my athletic career has gone downhill. I could not be prouder than I am of my family and life
outside work. I am married to a wonderful and beautiful woman, Karen, and
we have a 17-month-old son, Andrew. Andrew doesn’t know it yet, but he’s
going to be a professional soccer player. Karen is also of Argentinean
descent and together we are teaching Andrew Spanish so that he too has the
advantage of being bilingual. I am currently involved in many high profile cases including Lehman Brothers, FSB. v. Beverly Hills Estates funding, et al., a massive mortgage fraud case that has been active in the Federal Court since 2003. This case has received a lot of attention from the press because of its interesting and bizarre facts —- including the amounts taken by the scheme, a polygamous defendant who fled the country for over four years, and the criminal prosecution of high profile brokers and bankers. My most memorable moment in this case was participating in multiple raids with U.S. Marshals, alongside my firm’s client, receiver David Pasternak, to seize assets from less than cooperative defendants. In one raid we seized more than $80,000 in cash and multiple firearms. It was an interesting experience trying to fit a massive shotgun into the trunk of my tiny convertible and then, after failing to do so, driving down the 10 Freeway with the shotgun in the passenger seat, 4 handguns in the trunk and a suitcase full of cash—all with the top down, hoping to not get pulled over. Newspapers have followed this case; the entire case will someday be the subject of my first novel or screenplay when I trade in my law license for a writing career. I am also counsel to receiver Taylor B. Grant in the Bank of America v. W.L. Homes receivership. This receivership has generated over $90,000,000 from real property sales for the benefit of Bank of America and other creditors seeking to recover losses. Pro bono and nonprofit work are also important to me. My most rewarding pro bono achievement this past year was assisting a family in adopting their three year old daughter. Because I am fluent and literate in Spanish, I was able to help these people, from a demographic that is not usually well represented in our legal system. Helping this family become whole was one of the most rewarding moments in my practice of law. My wife and I were invited to a homemade tamale dinner in exchange. I have been extremely fortunate in gaining personal honors. I have been selected five times as a Southern California Super Lawyers Rising Star (2005 through 2009), and was also selected as one of “L.A.’s Top 100 Lawyers” in 2009 by the Los Angeles Business Journal –one of only a handful of attorneys under the age of 40 to be selected. I see my career as one that is just getting off the ground,
and I plan to stick around the practice of law and the CRF for the next
several decades. |