Richard Powers

EDUCATION

• J.D., cum laude, Boston College Law School
  
• M.A., Boston College, Lynch School of Education
  
• A.B., summa cum laude, Boston College, College of Arts & Sciences

EXPERTISE/RESEARCH INTERESTS

Professor Powers’ teaching and research interests include international and comparative law, commercial transactions, litigation, business ethics and the interrelationship between the law and ethics. For almost a decade he was a member of the Business Ethics Curriculum Committee and taught sections of the previously required Carroll School course, Introduction to Business Ethics. Subsequently, Powers taught several sections of the course that took its place, Portico, an innovative seminar required of all first-year Carroll School undergraduates as an introduction to management and business ethics. Powers introduced a related course, Law and Ethics, to the curriculum several years ago in order to provide interested students throughout the University an opportunity to further explore this highly relevant subject matter. Professor Powers also regularly teaches Law II: Business Law during the academic year and has taught Law I: Introduction to Law and the Legal Process in Dublin, Venice and Madrid using a comparative law approach in the summer over the last several years.

While pursuing graduate work towards earning an M.A. in Higher Education Administration, Professor Powers focused his research on the discipline of academic advising. He now serves as academic advisor to numerous undergraduate and graduate students, as well as pre-law students in the Carroll School of Management as well as the Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences. In connection therewith, he collaborates with the University’s pre-law advisor and the Academic Advising Center through regular participation in pre-law presentations.

As former Chairperson of the M.B.A. Core Faculty (2009-2014), Professor Powers coordinated curriculum development, course offerings, and scheduling in collaboration with the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, the program staff, and the Chairs and faculty of the school’s academic departments. In addition, for several years Professor Powers has taught Managing the Legal and Ethical Environment of Business in the M.B.A. full-time program and, more recently, in M.B.A. evening program.
 

SELECTED APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

• 2011 Carroll School of Management “Distinguished Teacher Award” for Excellence in Undergraduate teaching
• Granted highest ranking (“AV-Preeminent”) for ethical standards and professional abilities as an attorney by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, the only nationally recognized authority for rankings in the legal profession
• Elected to Phi Beta Kappa (1975) and current member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
   

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Professor Powers has been an attorney for over 35 years and, as such, brings many years of professional experience representing Fortune 500 companies, smaller corporations, insurers and individuals. Since 1978 Professor Powers became a member of the bar in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and has been licensed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court since that time. He was subsequently admitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts (1979), the First Circuit Court of Appeals (1979), and the U.S. Supreme Court (1985). Upon graduation from Boston College Law School, Powers joined a large Boston law firm, where he was became a Senior Partner before leaving to co-found a boutique litigation firm with offices in MA and RI. Throughout his professional career, Professor Powers concentrated his practice in the area of civil litigation, handling a wide variety of cases, from simple relatively matters to complex, multi-party and multi-district litigation and class actions. He maintains his professional status as an active member of the Massachusetts Bar and is registered annually with the Massachusetts Board of Bar Overseers. Mr. Powers is among the small minority of lawyers in the U.S. granted the highest designation (“AV-Preeminent”) for ethical standards and professional abilities as an attorney by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, the only nationally recognized authority for rankings in the legal profession.