For more than three decades, Rick Hutchison has been practicing law in Florida. A former managing partner and co-founder of Kennedy & Hutchison, PA, he currently serves as a partner at Holland & Knight, LLP, and focuses his practice on commercial litigation. As testament to his commitment in the field, Rick Hutchison has been included in the Best Lawyers in America from 2006 to 2017.The Best Lawyers in America has been releasing annual publications since 1983 to recognize the country’s top legal talent. Its process for choosing these top lawyers has been tested over more than 30 years, and it is based purely on peer reviews. Each year, lawyers are nominated by clients, lawyers, or any other references. These individuals provide up to three practice areas that describe their nominee’s expertise before submitting the nomination. Although Best Lawyers accepts nominations from a range of references, lawyers cannot nominate themselves. Once the nominations are in, the publication sends out requests for a peer review. Attorneys that are currently recognized by Best Lawyers are given review surveys based on their own area of expertise. They are asked to provide feedback regarding their peer’s work and ethics. Upon receiving these reviews back, Best Lawyers analyses all the feedback. It generates results based on the information provided and fact-checks any claims. All candidates are also checked to ensure they are in good standing with their local bar associations.Finally, firms and attorneys are informed on their inclusion on the Best Lawyers in America. All recognized attorneys are published both online and in print.
Holland & Knight partner Rick Hutchison possesses more than 25 years of legal experience and handles class action litigations and arbitrations for the firm regarding hospitalities, resorts, and timeshares. Rick Hutchison also served on the Institutional Review Board for the Boca Raton Regional Hospital, formally called Boca Raton Community. Boca Raton Regional offers a variety of medical services, including the Gloria Drummond Physical Rehabilitation Institute. Previously known as Davis Therapy Centers, the Physical Rehabilitation Institute provides a number of outpatient services that range from wound care and pain management to diabetes education. Patients receive treatment through integrated treatment programs developed by a multidisciplinary team of dedicated physicians, therapists, nutritionists, exercise physiologists, and nurses. Furthermore, treatment programs utilize some of the most innovative and advanced technologies and equipment in the medical field. Treatments and programs offered at the Gloria Drummond Physical Rehabilitation Institute are divided into five specialty areas that include the Comprehensive Center for Pain Management, the Outpatient Diabetes and Nutrition Center, the Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine, and the Rehabilitation Center and Dodson Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation Center.
Formerly the assistant state attorney for the Dade County State Attorney’s Office in Miami, Florida, Rick Hutchison now serves as an equity partner at Holland & Knight LLP in West Palm Beach. In conjunction with his professional role, Rick Hutchison has also leveraged his legal experience to teach trial and deposition skills at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) for almost 20 years.The National Institute for Trial Advocacy is a Boulder, Colorado-based nonprofit organization that offers continuing legal education opportunities to law professionals in the United States. NITA’s core mission is to provide lawyers with the training they need to deliver effective and ethical advocacy to clients in support of a fair and competent justice system.Continuing education students have access to classes covering a wide range of legal subjects, including writing briefs, filing motions, examining witnesses, and building trial skills. Some classes can be accessed in an online format, while others are available on a state-by-state basis at various local settings such as universities, courthouses, and resort conferences.
Rick Hutchison has maintained a position as equity partner at law firm Holland & Knight LLP for over 15 years. In his work, Rick Hutchison focuses on the legal areas of contract and business torts litigation. Business torts litigation is a legal discipline centered on misconduct or damages done to intangible assets held by a company, rather than to an individual or a property involved with a business. These intangible assets include things like intellectual property, business opportunities, or client relationships. Because of this, much of the litigation surrounding business torts is oriented toward the future, and requires legal professionals to build complex cases to recoup future and projected losses, rather than losses that have already been experienced.Though business torts litigation covers a wide range of subjects, two of the most common examples are unfair competition and disparagement suits. In terms of commercial law, unfair competition lawsuits are the result of unjust or noncompetitive practices that negatively impact the ability of a company to do business, while disparagement refers to any action that facilitates the spread of negative information that discourages interaction with a company.
