Richard Pearl

Associate

Richard Pearl is an associate in Morgan Lewis's Litigation Practice and is a member of the Insurance Recovery Practice. Mr. Pearl's practice involves representing clients in complex insurance recovery actions and in complex commercial litigation. He has experience as a trial attorney and in prosecuting and defending consumer fraud actions, breach-of-contract actions, ERISA claims, insurance coverage actions, bad-faith actions against insurers, and RICO/fraud actions. Mr. Pearl represents clients in both state and federal court, primarily in Illinois.

A member of the firm's cross-disciplinary retail initiative, Mr. Pearl has represented the firm's retail clients in a number of purported class actions alleging violations of state and federal statutes, consumer fraud acts, negligence, and breach of contract. He is the principal associate handling the defense of multiple complex commercial claims, and was successful in exposing a plaintiff's fraudulent claim against one of the largest retailers in the world.

Mr. Pearl also prosecutes and defends insurance-coverage actions on behalf of policyholders. He has been the principal associate responsible for a variety of such actions concerning several types of coverage, including pollution liability insurance, directors and officers insurance, commercial general liability insurance, excess and umbrella coverage, mortgage guaranty insurance, and environmental policies.

Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Mr. Pearl was an associate at a Chicago-based law firm.

Mr. Pearl received his J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where he graduated in the top 5% of his class and received an honorary merit scholarship in Health Law and a Certificate in Health Law. He was a junior member of the school's law journal, and was awarded a position on the law journal after finishing first in his section during his first year of law school. Mr. Pearl also tutored contracts for two years at Loyola. He received his B.S. in psychology and philosophy, focusing on ethics and mental development, from Northern Illinois University.

Mr. Pearl is an active member of the firm's pro bono committee in the Chicago office and has held the position of deputy chair of the Chicago office's pro bono committee. He has successfully represented clients in actions ranging from real estate fraud claims to school disciplinary actions. He also has appeared on behalf of his client before the Illinois Parole Board in connection with a clemency petition filed before Governor Blagojevich.

Mr. Pearl is admitted to practice in Illinois and before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.