Recognized in Best Lawyers since 2005 
Rich Newsome is a partner at Swope, Rodante, Newsome & Steinberg. For more than twenty-five years, Rich Newsome has dedicated his career to representing individuals and families whose lives have been forever changed by catastrophic injuries and defective products. Recognized as one of the country’s leading product liability and catastrophic injury trial lawyers, Rich has built a reputation for taking on complex, high-stakes cases against some of the world’s largest manufacturers while helping advance consumer safety and secure meaningful results for those he represents.
Rich began his legal career as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern and Middle Districts of Florida, where he prosecuted complex federal criminal cases involving white-collar fraud, narcotics conspiracies, and other significant federal offenses. He later entered private practice representing manufacturers in product liability litigation before making the decision to devote his career exclusively to representing injured individuals and their families. That commitment has defined his practice for more than twenty-five years and continues to shape his approach to every case he accepts.
Today, Rich focuses his practice on product liability, catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, trucking litigation, and other complex civil matters. Throughout his career, he has played a leading role in nationally significant automotive product liability litigation, including cases involving the Ford/Firestone tire failures and Takata airbag defects. His work has earned national recognition for advancing consumer safety and has been associated with litigation that helped bring dangerous products to public attention and contributed to broader industry safety reforms. Rich has obtained numerous landmark verdicts and recoveries on behalf of his clients, with several cases recognized among the largest verdicts in the nation, reflecting both his trial experience and his commitment to representing individuals in some of the most challenging and consequential cases in the country.
Beyond the courtroom, Rich has devoted much of his career to strengthening both the legal profession and the civil justice system. He is a Past President of the Florida Justice Association and has served on the Board of Governors of the American Association for Justice. He was appointed to Florida’s Constitution Revision Commission and previously served as Chairman of the Fifth District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission. Throughout his career, Rich has remained committed to mentoring the next generation of trial lawyers as a graduate and faculty member of the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College and as a founding faculty member of Trial School, where he continues to educate attorneys from across the United States in the art of trial advocacy.
Rich’s accomplishments have earned him recognition among the nation’s most respected trial lawyers. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and the International Society of Barristers, and is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Throughout his distinguished career, he has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America, Florida Trend’s Legal Elite, Florida Super Lawyers, The National Trial Lawyers, Martindale-Hubbell, and numerous other organizations for his professional excellence, leadership, and unwavering commitment to the pursuit of justice.
