Trisha Rich

Trisha Rich is a Partner and Co-Chair of the Legal Profession Team in the Chicago office of Holland & Knight LLP, where she practices litigation, legal ethics, and professional responsibility law.

In her legal ethics practice, Trish advises lawyers, law firms, and in-house legal counsel on a wide variety of legal ethics and professional responsibility issues, including matters pertaining to confidentiality, conflicts, privilege, fee disputes, lawyer mobility issues, and others. She also works as an expert witness in the area of legal ethics and professional responsibility law.

In her litigation practice, she handles primarily complex commercial litigation. She is a member of the Trial Bar for the Northern District of Illinois and has argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Trish is the author of more than 30 published works and she an adjunct professor of legal ethics at New York University School of Law. She is a frequent speaker and educator on a variety of professional responsibility and legal ethics issues. Trish founded and coordinates the Attorney Defense Initiative, the first privately-sponsored pro bono program in the nation that focuses on assisting impaired lawyers facing disciplinary charges.

Trish received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Western Michigan University, and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. Trish is a former philosophy teacher, and has taught practical and theoretical ethics at two universities.

Ms. Rich is a member of the Illinois Judicial Ethics Committee, Illinois Judges Foundation Auxiliary Committee, Chicago Inn of Court, Lawyers Club of Chicago, and ABA’s Center for Professional Responsibility. She is also an active member of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, where she serves on the Executive Board. Finally, she is a member of the Chicago Bar Association, where she has served on many different committees, including the Board of Managers. 

Trish has received numerous awards for her pro bono and charitable work, including the Northern District of Illinois Award for Excellence in Pro Bono Service, the Chicago Bar Association’s David C. Hilliard Award for Outstanding Committee Service, the Chicago Bar Association’s Milton H. Gray Award for Outstanding Project Leadership, and the Chicago Bar Foundation’s Maurice Weigle Exceptional Young Lawyer Award.  She was a recipient of Crain’s Chicago Business’ 2018 40 Under 40, Law Bulletin Media’s 2017 40 Under Forty, has been twice named to Crain’s Chicago’s Notable Women Lawyers list (2018, 2020), and is in the 2021 class of Leadership Greater Chicago.

Trish has served on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism since 2017.