R. Bruce Rich '70

R. Bruce Rich was a senior partner in the international law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, where he headed the firm’s intellectual property and media litigation practice for more than 30 years through 2019. During his tenure, Bruce led a transformation of the practice to address issues presented by the advent of the Internet and the emergence and explosive growth of digital commerce. Bruce successfully litigated leading cases in the First Amendment, copyright, trademark and antitrust fields, a number of which have helped shape the legal landscape in the field. Bruce has lectured and taught actively in his fields of expertise, and most recently delivered the annual Horace Manges Copyright Lecture at Columbia Law School.

Bruce serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of EL Education, Inc., a not-for-profit educational reform organization. EL Education’s mission is meaningfully to improve the quality of K-12 public education through training teachers in schools and school districts nationwide to achieve with their students strong academics, critical thinking skills, collaborative and participatory learning, and character development. The organization’s focus is on working with underserved populations of students.

Bruce also serves on the Counsels’ Council of Lincoln Center, affording pro bono legal service to that organization, on the Leadership Council of the Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization devoted to protecting press freedoms internationally, and on the Board of Directors of Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., a not-for-profit organization that furthers the interests of copyright law by combining licensing, content, software and professional services to advance the way people integrate, access and share information.

During 2020 and 2021, Bruce will be a Fellow at Harvard University’s Advanced Leadership Initiative, where he will focus on his interests in educational reform and preserving our free speech traditions.

Bruce earned his A.B. from Dartmouth, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was awarded the Colby Government Prize for a demonstrated commitment to public service. He holds a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He is married to Melissa Rich, and has two children, Megan and Alex. His son, Alex, is a class of 2003 Dartmouth graduate.