Lawyers

Richard Sybert is an Intellectual Property and Commercial Litigation Partner. He represents and counsels major U.S. and foreign businesses in complex litigation and arbitration in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies. His areas of expertise include contracts, franchise and licensing, IP (trademarks, patents, and copyrights), and unfair competition including antitrust and trade secrets. He has substantial and successful jury trial experience. Mr. Sybert is also a certified arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and frequently arbitrates commercial and franchise cases.

Mr. Sybert has extensive foreign experience and a significant part of his practice involves consulting on doing business abroad, especially Asia. He is fluent in various languages and is admitted as a solicitor to the High Court of Hong Kong. Prior to joining Gordon & Rees in 2001, Mr. Sybert served as General Counsel and Vice President of Lanard Toys, an integrated, U.S.-owned toy company with global operations, where he was responsible for the company’s legal affairs worldwide and management of its U.S. design facility.

In his early career, Mr. Sybert was a partner at an AmLaw 100 law firm in Los Angeles before leaving for public service. In 1990 he became the Southern California Director for U.S. Senator Pete Wilson, and was then appointed by Governor Wilson as California's State Director of Planning and Research, where he served for three years and was responsible for strategic and long-range policy development for the State of California. He was the Republican nominee in California's 24th Congressional District in 1994 and 1996, and from 1993 to 1998 served as the Public Member on the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. Before the private practice of law, Mr. Sybert was an intelligence officer in the United States Naval Reserve and a former White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Defense.

Admissions

California
Oregon
Washington
Hawaii
Hong Kong

Memberships

Licensing Executives Society
Bruin Professionals
Hong Kong-Southern California Association
San Diego Art Museum
The New Majority
Lincoln Club

Community Involvement

Mr. Sybert has served as President of the Southern California Harvard Law School Association. He currently serves on the Alumni Board in San Diego for the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Management and is head of the San Diego chapter of Bruin Professionals.