Richard F.X. Guay

Richard F.X. Guay is Of Counsel in the litigation department at Hochheiser & Akmal. He is a highly experienced trial and appellate attorney whose dual practice – civil litigation and criminal defense – focuses on complex civil and corporate litigation, white-collar criminal defense, regulatory and ethical compliance matters, governmental and internal investigations, and professional liability. He has represented clients in diverse industries, including construction contractors, labor unions, insurance carriers, healthcare providers, logistics firms, professional practice groups, and information technology suppliers.

A former federal prosecutor, Mr. Guay served as an Assistant United States Attorney, Criminal Division, in the Eastern District of New York, where he was in charge of several salient organized crime and political corruption cases. A racketeering investigation he handled involving a major FBI undercover operation was later made into the film Donnie Brasco (TriStar Pictures, 1997). The same case, and Mr. Guay’s participation in it, were the subject of the cover story on criminal justice in the March 1994 issue of the American Bar Association’s ABA Journal. Another of his prosecutions, exposing extortion by a New York City Taxi Commissioner, was featured in the book City for Sale (Harper & Row, 1988) by the investigative journalists Jack Newfield and Wayne Barrett.

Before joining Hochheiser & Akmal, Mr. Guay was a partner at Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C., where he served as chair of the firm’s white-collar criminal defense practice group. He was also an adjunct member of the faculty of Brooklyn Law School. He began his litigation career at the Wall Street law firm of Mudge Rose Guthrie & Alexander, handling nuclear power plant lawsuits, as well as, on the defense side, international extradition proceedings with respect to a prominent fugitive financier following the collapse of his global banking empire, as chronicled in N. Tosches’ book Power on Earth (Arbor House, 1986).

Mr. Guay received a B.A. (1971) and M.A.T. (1973) from Fordham University, where he was granted a National Teacher Corps Fellowship for his postgraduate studies. He received a J.D. from New York University School of Law (1976), where he was a Root-Tilden Scholar.

He is admitted to practice in the State of New York, the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mr. Guay has participated as an instructor in continuing legal education seminars for trial lawyers on evidence and federal civil practice (including co-authorship of a New York State Bar Association monograph on deposition technique). Each year since 1987, he has been peer rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell, the highest level of professional excellence and ethical standing.

Long active in civic affairs and professional groups in New York City, Mr. Guay has served as an executive officer or member of the board of directors of several community, educational, and cultural institutions.

As a public service, Mr. Guay has regularly undertaken pro bono representation of nonprofit associations dedicated to civic betterment and the arts. In addition, he has accepted appointments by the federal judiciary to defend indigent clients in both civil and criminal cases. Most cited in that context was his due process challenge to prosecutorial misconduct during a ten-week federal criminal jury trial in United States v. Pinto, 850 F.2d 927 (2d Cir. 1988). In state court, the dismissals he gained pro bono for two immigrant greengrocers wrongly charged with assault, in People v. Ahn, were the focus of articles by legal columnist David Margolick, With a Little Help, 2 From Korea Find Legal System Works, New York Times, Sept. 21, 1985, and by Peter Megargee Brown, reviewing models of public interest law, in ABA Litigation, Vol. 13, No. 2, 1987.