Schaden, Katzman, Lampert & McClune | Aviation Law - a Global Company
Attorney Profiles:
"As a young engineer in the aircraft industry I became increasingly aware of how difficult it was to effect design changes to make airplanes safer. For giants in the aircraft industry, safety was not the important issue; price, performance, and style drove marketability and thus profits. I later learned that the courtroom was a more effective venue to achieve design change for safety. It is highly doubtful that airbags, padded dashes, collapsible steering wheels, and restraint systems would be in cars but for product liability lawsuits. In this respect, it feels right to make a difference in the aviation industry where the safety of pilots and passengers is concerned."

    - Richard Schaden
 

Richard F. Schaden
Of Counsel

Richard Schaden, the founder of the firm who remains affiliated with the firm in an Of Counsel capacity, is an aeronautical engineer and highly experienced trial lawyer. With over 40 years of successful litigation, Mr. Schaden has won 50 multimillion-dollar courtroom verdicts and hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements for his clients, along with the respect of both the legal and technological communities.

He has been appointed by courts nationwide as lead counsel and as a member of the Plaintiff's Steering Committee in most major air disaster cases, including:

  • Northwest Flight 255 at Detroit
  • Continental Flight 1713 at Denver
  • United Flight 232 at Sioux City
  • United Flight 585 at Colorado Springs
  • Comair Flight 3272 in Monroe, Michigan
  • USAir Flight 427 near Pittsburgh
  • TWA Flight 800 near Long Island
  • American Airlines Flight 587

Mr. Schaden has tried jury cases involving general aviation, common carrier aviation, and military aviation. He is widely published in the field of aviation law and design liability, including his book Product Design Liability, contributions to the American Jurisprudence Series "Trial", and many papers and articles for legal journals and magazines.

Before his career as an aviation attorney, Mr. Schaden worked for the Boeing Airplane Company as a flight test engineer. He has conducted extensive engineering flight tests on several general aviation aircraft, including the Boeing 707, 727, B-52, and C-135. During his employment with Boeing, Mr. Schaden attended graduate school for mechanical engineering and nuclear physics.

Mr. Schaden currently holds the highest FAA license possible - Air Transport Pilot. Every year he completes advanced recurrent jet pilot training for the firm's aircraft.

Mr. Schaden has served on the Board of Governors of the Michigan and Colorado Trial Lawyers Associations. He is certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a Civil Trial Advocate and is past Chairman of the Aviation Section of the American Association for Justice (f/k/a ATLA), the Space and Technology Section of the Michigan State Bar, and the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice. Mr. Schaden is licensed to practice law in Colorado, Illinois, and Michigan.

Colorado Office   ||   303-465-3663Michigan Office   ||   248-258-4800