Richard F. Brown co-founded Brown & Fortunato, P.C. in 1995 after twenty years of private practice in Amarillo. He has distinguished himself as an outstanding lawyer and a valuable citizen in the Amarillo community.

Richard is board certified in Oil, Gas, and Mineral Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He has experience working with many industry organizations, such as the Panhandle Producers and Royalty Owners Association, for which he has been the Treasurer for two decades. He has participated in or chaired planning committees for over twenty seminars. He has written numerous articles that have been published in various newsletters and journals. Richard has also been active in bar related endeavors. From 1996 to 1997, he chaired the Oil, Gas, & Mineral Law Section of the State Bar of Texas. Richard is a Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. As a result of a poll of 65,000 Texas lawyers first conducted in 2003, Richard was named one of forty-four oil and gas "Super Lawyers" in Texas, and the only one in the Texas Panhandle.

Richard's professional experience has been concentrated in litigation and transactional matters primarily related to the oil and gas industry, general commercial matters, and telecommunications. His specialty in oil and gas matters encompasses exploration and production operations from initial lease acquisitions through the sale of production and producing properties. This includes all issues associated with conveyancing, leasing, and title examination; drilling and production operations; marketing, sale, and transportation of production; and structuring and financing of complex transfers of producing properties. Richard has litigated title and conveyancing issues, express and implied lease covenants, industry contracts such as exploration, processing, transportation, and purchase and sale agreements, as well as various torts associated with the oil and gas industry.

In the commercial arena, Richard's experience has included negotiating and drafting complex contracts for the purchase, and sale of goods, services, and businesses, and associated leasing and lending agreements, as well as determining the appropriate structure and organizational documents required for various legal entities. His telecommunications background includes matters pertaining to cellular, PCS, wireless Internet, and long distance providers. He has negotiated agreements pertaining to subscribers, dealers, consultants, licenses, switch sharing, roaming, tower sites, antennas, confidentiality, Internet service providers, website hosting, web design, and other Internet-related matters. Additionally, Richard has litigated commercial cases involving most of the same types of agreements.

The firm's clients have trusted Richard to handle transactional and litigation matters of great complexity and value. His impressive litigation record includes defense verdicts of zero against allegations of substantial damages, as well as impressive recoveries for plaintiffs. Though litigation is sometimes the only forum for relief, the many settlements Richard has negotiated demonstrate his belief that most matters are better resolved by agreement.

Richard obtained his undergraduate degree at Rice University on a full Navy ROTC scholarship. After graduation, he was commissioned in the Marine Corps and rose to the rank of Captain before returning to study law at SMU.

Richard served on the Southwestern Law Journal and graduated near the top of his class. He returned to Amarillo, where he rapidly developed a client base and distinguished himself as a well-respected oil and gas lawyer in the Texas Panhandle. He expanded his practice to include complex litigation and corporate law, and he has been successful in representing a diverse group of clients.

Richard's civic endeavors include several challenging positions. In 1990, he became the first President of the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation. Four years later he accepted a new challenge of serving as President of Center City of Amarillo, Inc., a downtown revitalization project.  He is currently serving as the Vice Chairman of the Center City Development Committee appointed by the Amarillo City Commission and as Chairman of the Board of the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone #1.

Richard is an avid Dallas Cowboys fan and a regular on the ski slopes of New Mexico. He has been married to Kay for over thirty years, and they have two adult children.