Richard A. Weiss is a retired partner with Foley & Lardner LLP. He served as a member of the firm’s Management Committee from 1999 to 2008 and was the managing partner of the firm’s Washington, D.C. office from 2001 to 2007. He has chaired the firm’s Government Finance Practice and co-chaired its Public Affairs Practice. He was a member of the Finance & Financial Institutions, Health Care Finance, and Public Finance Practices, and the Sports Industry Team.
Richard devoted his entire professional career to deal making and finance, particularly in transactions involving both the public and private sectors. In public finance, he has represented clients as bond counsel or underwriter’s counsel in over 500 transactions. Richard was a two-term president of the American College of Bond Counsel.
Richard concentrated his practice in health care finance, representing hospital systems, medical practice groups and investment bankers. He has deep knowledge of the industry. He was chairman of the board of directors of Washington Hospital Center, the largest, private hospital in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the board of directors and the finance and investment committees of Advocate Aurora Health Care, the largest health care delivery system in Illinois and Wisconsin. He previously served 17 years on the board of Aurora Health Care, including two as chairman. Richard has also been a trustee of a major medical college and board chairman of a private psychiatric hospital.
Another area of concentration was the sports industry. Richard represented the Washington Nationals in connection with its new baseball stadium in Washington, D.C. He also represented the Green Bay Packers in the renovation of Lambeau Field, the Milwaukee Brewers in the development and financing of Miller Park, and Major League Baseball in the financing of the San Diego Padres’ stadium, the relocation of the Montreal Expos to Washington D.C., and in the negotiations for the new stadium for the Florida Marlins. Mr. Weiss is a former member of the board of directors of the National Sports Law Institute.
In recognition of his achievements, Richard was Peer Review Rated as AV® Preeminent™, the highest performance rating in Martindale-Hubbell’s peer review rating system.
Richard graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School (magna cum laude, 1971), where he was Order of the Coif and on the editorial board of the Wisconsin Law Review, and has a business degree from Northwestern University (B.S.B.A., with distinction, 1968), where he was an Austin Scholar, Phi Eta Sigma and Beta Gamma Sigma. He is a board member of Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation, a board member and chair of the finance committee of Physicians Realty Trust, a NYSE listed REIT. He is a retired member of The Economic Club of Washington D.C. and a board member and the general campaign chair for the United Way of the National Capital Area. Mr. Weiss also served on the board of directors and executive committee of the Greater Washington Board of Trade.