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RIAA Lead Lawyer Named to Bench

Richard L. Gabriel, the Denver lawyer who has led the recording industry's litigation battles against file sharing and music downloading, will soon be singing a different song. Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter appointed Gabriel this week to a newly created seat on the Colorado Court of Appeals, effective July 1. A partner with the law firm Holme Roberts & Owen, Gabriel has been national lead counsel for the Recording Industry Association of America in its lawsuits to put an end to what it contends is illegal music distribution. He has personally appeared as lead counsel in most of the best known of these cases, including the only one that has gone to trial.

Not surprisingly, the peer-to-peer fans at p2pnet are not happy about the news, not because they'll miss going up against him, but because they question his ability to be impartial. The p2pnet post on his appointment describes him as an "attack lawyer" who RIAA used "to terrorize scores of innocent American men, women and even children." Another person not likely to be thrilled about the appointment: Gabriel's frequent adversary, Ray Beckerman, author of the blog Recording Industry vs. The People.

Gabriel is a 1987 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania law school and received his bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1984. After law school, he was a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Frederick Motz in Maryland and was city prosecutor for Lafayette, Colo., before joining his current firm in 1990. The appointment to the bench is for a provisional two-year term, after which it will be for Colorado voters to decide whether to retain him. He will earn a salary of $124,092.

We interviewed Gabriel in November 2007 for our Lawyer2Lawyer podcast. You can hear that interview from this page.

Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on May 7, 2008 at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Comments

Why wouldn't I be thrilled?

1. I'm glad that the RIAA has lost the only lawyer it trusted to argue major motions and trials. His clones do not have his skill in deception, which is a basic requirement for the job of representing the RIAA.

2. I'm glad that Mr. Gabriel now has the opportunity to find honest work.

3. I'm glad that Mr. Gabriel will now not be raking in millions of dollars in blood money every year.

4. I'm glad for Mr. Gabriel's family that he will now be travelling less, and have more time to spend with them; it will probably help him develop some perspective, which he has been sorely lacking.

5. I'm glad that Mr. Gabriel can now make a living doing something other than suing children, the disabled, homeless people, people living on welfare or social security, and other defenseless Americans.

6. I'm glad that Mr. Gabriel will now have to apply the law, rather than to try to reinvent it.

7. I'm glad for Mr. Gabriel's family that he may be getting out before the Rule 11 sanctions start coming in.

8. I'm glad that the Colorado state officials charged with doing their "due diligence" in investigating Mr. Gabriel's background did not call his most frequent adversary during the past 2 1/2 years [that would be me], since I might have said something I'd regret later.

9. Lastly, I've always regretted not living in New Mexico or Colorado. Now I can cross Colorado off that list. At least for the next 2 years. So I'm glad to have one less regret in life.

It's the good folks of Colorado who have reason not to be "thrilled".

Posted by: Ray Beckerman | May 9, 2008 3:19:08 PM

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