Lecturer Bios
Trisha M. Rich, Esq.
Trisha Rich is a Partner in the Chicago office of Holland & Knight where she practices in
commercial litigation and legal ethics and professional responsibility matters.
In her legal ethics practice, Ms. Rich advises lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel on a
variety of issues related to professional responsibility and legal ethics, including professional
responsibility, malpractice, partnership and corporate structuring, law firm management and
employment issues, fee disputes, conflicts, confidentiality, and privilege, as well as all areas of
legal ethics.
Ms. Rich is active in the legal ethics community, is a member of the Association of Professional
Responsibility Lawyers, and is a frequent speaker and author on a variety of issues related to
ethics and risk management. Prior to practicing law, Ms. Rich taught practical and theoretical
ethics at two universities.
Ms. Rich has received a number of accolades for her work in the legal ethics field, including being
included as one of Crain’s Chicago Business’s 2018 Notable Women Attorneys, being named in the Law
Bulletin’s 2017 40 Illinois Lawyers to Watch, being awarded the 2017 Chicago Bar Foundation Maurice
Weigle Exceptional Young Lawyer Award, and being included in Crain’s Chicago Business’s 2018 40
Under 40 list. Ms. Rich is also a member of the Chicago Bar Association, a volunteer for the
Make-A-Wish Foundation of Illinois, and sits by appointment of the Illinois Supreme Court as a
Commissioner on the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism.
Christopher R. Heredia, Esq.
Christopher Heredia is a litigation attorney in Holland & Knight's Chicago office, where he focuses his practice in legal ethics and risk management for lawyers and law firms, as well as commercial litigation. As a member of the firm's Legal Profession Team, Mr. Heredia advises and represents lawyers, law firms and in-house counsel on all aspects of professional responsibility matters, including firm organization, dissolution, disqualification, lawyer mobility, regulatory compliance, and bar disciplinary defense at the state and federal levels, including before the Office of Enrollment and Discipline of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Mr. Heredia also represents students and other professionals before regulatory authorities in licensing, admissions, and character and fitness matters.
In the community, Mr. Heredia is active in local and national bar associations, and frequently presents to law schools, legal organizations and media outlets on professional responsibility matters. As a faculty member of the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), he teaches lawyers successful deposition techniques during NITA’s annual deposition skills training program. Mr. Heredia also previously taught Ethics and Advocacy as an adjunct professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law Ethics and Advocacy, which combined elements of professional responsibility with trial advocacy.
Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Mr. Heredia served as Litigation Counsel for the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), where he investigated hundreds of charges of attorney misconduct, and litigated formal proceedings before the Commission’s Hearing Board and Illinois Supreme Court. His tenure with the ARDC allowed Mr. Heredia to become intimately familiar with the law governing lawyers and professional responsibility matters. Mr. Heredia also worked as a criminal prosecutor for the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, where he gained extensive litigation experience prosecuting complex fraud, theft, and vehicle-related felonies.
