Alumnus Rick Fried Contributes $50,000 in Support of ‘New Day in Court’ Initiative at UArizona Law

University of Arizona double wildcat and James E. Rogers College of Law alumnus Rick Fried (’63, ’66) has contributed $50,000 to the “A New Day in Court” fundraising initiative in support of University of Arizona Law's Advocacy program.

Fried’s gift will go toward remodeling the college’s existing courtrooms to create two modern, flexible, dual-purpose practice courtrooms and classrooms.

The $6 million “A New Day in Court” initiative is raising funds for capital projects, faculty expansion and student experiential learning. The initiative also includes renaming the program to the Thomas Mauet Advocacy Program, in honor of Professor Emeritus and renowned trial expert Thomas Mauet, who stepped down as advocacy program director in 2016.

“It is always a thrill to see members of our alumni community dedicating time and resources to advance opportunities for future Arizona Law students,” noted Barbara Bergman, director of the advocacy program. “To have a highly respected and skilled advocate like Rick join us as a supporter speaks to the importance of creating top-of-the-line advocacy spaces for our students.”

Fried is a founder of Cronin, Fried, Sekiya, Kekina & Fairbanks, a firm specializing in personal injury litigation based in Hawaii. Throughout his legal career he gained a national reputation in the fields of medical malpractice and aviation law and served on numerous committees and associations including as a member of the board of directors for the Hawaii State Bar Association.

Fried has handled many of the highest profile personal injury and medical malpractice cases in Hawaii and throughout the Pacific. Most recently, his firm successfully represented the state of Hawaii, in state court, against Bristol Myers Squibb and Sanofi for misrepresentations made involving the drug Plavix where the firm obtained a verdict for $834 million.

Outside of his legal practice, Fried has also been the champion of a different court. A lifelong tennis player, Fried was captain of the University of Arizona men’s tennis team before completing his LLB at the College of Law. In 2008, he was inducted into the USTA Hawaii Pacific Section Tennis Hall of Fame, receiving the Player Award for his outstanding competitive achievements. Last year he earned the top spot in the U.S. tennis men’s 80-year-old division.

An active member of the University of Arizona Law community, Fried delivered the 2015 Peter Chase Neumann Lecture on Civil Justice where he discussed the role of a plaintiff's lawyer in improving the lives of victims. In 2012, he was honored by the Law College Association with the UA Alumni Association’s Professional Achievement Award.

“It is a privilege to give back to the university that gave me so much,” said Fried. “I am confident that this project will continue to bring the best and brightest students and academic minds to Tucson and continue the reputation of excellence in legal education that University of Arizona Law has come to be known by.”

In addition to the $4 million needed for building reconstruction, the "A New Day in Court" initiative is raising $2 million for an endowed chair of advocacy, an endowed professorship, and an endowment fund to support student experiential advocacy activities, such as travel to trial competitions.