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Richard R. Width

rwidth@lindabury.com
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908.233.6800

53 Cardinal Dr
Westfield, New Jersey 07090

Richard Width concentrates his practice in the area of health care law.

Richard Width, formerly President of the Firm and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Healthcare Group, is now semi-retired and is Of Counsel to the firm. He has an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell and was named as a Super Lawyer for a couple of years before becoming Of Counsel to the Firm. He has been practicing law for more than fifty years and has significant experience in a broad range of legal areas, including hospital and healthcare law; corporate, land use, real estate, and state securities law; major complex corporate litigation; and construction and surety litigation. Since 2000, he has concentrated his practice almost exclusively in the healthcare field.

In healthcare, Richard has represented many organizations, including nine area hospitals, on a variety of matters, such as leading the negotiating and drafting of documents for affiliations, consolidations and mergers; establishing and structuring healthcare organizations (e.g., PHOs, MSOs, etc.); purchasing medical practices; negotiating managed care contracts; analyzing antitrust issues and compliance strategies; representing borrowers in tax-exempt financing; representing providers with respect to certificates of need and healthcare planning; establishing for-profit ventures; and advising management on business issues and strategies.

In the last several years, Richard has been lead counsel on six area hospital acquisitions/mergers: Chilton Memorial Hospital/Morristown Memorial Hospital; Children's Specialized Hospital/Robert Wood Johnson Health System; Arden Hill Hospital/Greater Hudson Valley Health System; Arden Hill Hospital/Horton Medical Center; St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center/Wayne General Hospital; and Elizabeth General Medical Center/St. Elizabeth Hospital. In each of these transactions, he has been principal negotiator, led or participated in the related strategic planning, met with Boards and committees to guide the trustees through the process, negotiated and drafted complex documents, supervised due diligence, negotiated any related financing, and been responsible for closing the transaction.

Richard draws on his extensive experience in other areas of the law to provide his healthcare clients with an uncommon depth of legal and business insight and counsel. He has been extensively involved in major complex corporate/commercial litigation in federal and state courts and before arbitration panels; construction claims litigation; representation of sureties on defaulted construction projects (including both the defense of claims and the completion of projects); subrogation, indemnification and exoneration actions; insurance defense litigation; representation of condemnors and condemnees in eminent domain actions; land use law, including representation of applicants and objectors before planning boards and boards of adjustment; the negotiation and implementation of complex contracts, leases, loans (including NJHCFFA loans), partnership agreements, sales agreements, and other corporate documents; the establishment of businesses; commercial and residential real estate matters; and state securities law.

The breadth and depth of Richard’s legal experience gives him the ability to understand, negotiate, resolve, and litigate, if necessary, the multitude of interrelated problems faced by hospital and healthcare clients.

Throughout his career, Richard has maintained a commitment to the communities in which he has both lived and worked. For more than 20 years, he taught business law as an adjunct professor at Kean University in Union. He has been a member of the Westfield Rotary Club, where he was the president and a director for many years. In his hometown of Tewksbury, Richard has served as Mayor, member of the Town Council, member of the Planning Board, and in numerous other capacities. He has also served on the board of trustees of several charitable organizations, including Gordon College in Massachusetts and Trinitas Hospital in Elizabeth and Court. He also was a founder, and the first president and chair of the Board, of Court Appointed Special Advocates of Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren Counties, New Jersey, a non-profit corporation, whose mission is to recruit and train volunteers who are then assigned by the court to advocate for the best interests of a child who has been removed from their home because of abuse or neglect.

Education

J.D., Rutgers Law School - Newark, NJ , 1967

B.A., Gordon College, 1964

Admissions New Jersey, 1967
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, 1977
United States District Court District of New Jersey, 1967
Supreme Court of the United States , 1977
Professional & Bar Association Memberships

American Health Lawyers Association

American Bar Association

New Jersey State Bar Association

Union County Bar Association

  • Westfield Rotary Club, Member chair