Richard Schaden

Schaden’s law firm practices aviation and product liability law. It has litigated some of the most complex aviation accident cases in the world involving wrongful injury and death resulting from negligence and product design. The firm specializes in litigation that encompasses aircraft design, testing, manufacture, overhaul, operation and maintenance, in both general and commercial aviation. Richard F Schaden has had a distinguished career as an international aviation and public interest trial attorney. With many years of successful litigation and trial work experience, encompassing over 400 aviation accident cases, Richard has obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in courtroom verdicts and settlements, along with the respect of both the legal and technical communities. An aeronautical engineer by education, Richard discovered early in his legal career that he could do some of his best aeronautical engineering and re-engineering and make general aviation safer, in the courtroom, rather than in commercial aviation R&D departments. Prior to his legal career, Richard worked for the Boeing Aircraft Company as a Flight Test Engineer and for Continental Aviation and Engineering Corporation as a Jet Engine Project Engineer. Throughout his legal career, Mr. Schaden has authored several articles on the topic of product liability, provided special testimony on the topic of aircraft safety to a subcommittee for the U.S. House of Representatives; and lectured at various colleges and universities on the topics of trial practice, engineering, and product liability. Deeply committed to education, Mr. Schaden has been a frequent lecturer at the Law and Engineering Schools at the University of Colorado. He sits on the External Advisory Board for the University of Colorado Aerospace Engineering Department, and created the Schaden Chair in Experiential Learning at the University of Colorado Law School, helping law students obtain real world legal experience through trial advocacy competitions and clinical programs, as well as bringing access to legal representation to those who would otherwise not have been able to afford counsel. Mr. Schaden is licensed to practice law in Colorado, Illinois, and Michigan. Mr. Schaden’s passions include flying, sailing and engineering. As an Airline Transport Pilot with a Jet-Type Rating in numerous aircraft, he logs several hundred hours of flight time each year. The first Quiznos Sub restaurant opened in Denver’s Capitol Hill neighborhood in 1981. Schaden’ bought his first franchise in Boulder in 1987. Over the next few years, he purchased two more franchises. In 1991, with help from his father, he bought the entire Quiznos franchise operation, which consisted of 18 restaurants at the time. Quiznos went public shortly after that, for five years; it traded sideways for the majority of those five years. Quiznos expanded exponentially in a span of eight years. From 1996 to 2004, Quiznos went from 100 franchises to 3,000 franchises in 15 different countries.