There are very few attorneys who have had a career as steeped in jury trials as Dick Hibey (1941 – 2024). Dick arrived at Georgetown Law School in 1962, became a Prettyman Fellow in 1965-1966, worked as a public defender in what was then known as the Legal Aid Agency for two years, and then spent 3 years in the U.S. Attorney’s office, leaving in 1971. During these early years, Dick tried on average two trials per week. He appeared before several giants of the District Court at the time, including Judges Jones, Gesell, Bryant, Spottswood Robinson, John Lewis Smith, and others.
For the next ten years, Dick practiced at the law firm of Surry, Karasik & Morse, trying mostly civil cases, but handling criminal investigations as well. And then he, Stan Anderson and two others launched their own firm, Anderson, Hibey, Nauheim & Blair, in 1981. In 1985-1986, Dick represented (at the same time) Jonathan Pollard in a high profile Israeli espionage case and Ferdinand Marcos, who had just been deposed as the president of the Philippines. As his remarkable career continued, he represented many high profile clients, including Clair George, CIA Director of Operations, in two trials before Judge Royce Lamberth arising out of alleged false statements to Congress, and later Mary Mapes, who was fired by CBS following a highly-criticized 60 Minutes episode about President George W. Bush’s early military career, in which she had acted as Dan Rather’s producer.
This oral history is rich with recollections and insights into the life of a trial lawyer, the District Court bench and bar in the 1960s and early 1970s, and the challenges of high profile representations in the 1980s through his retirement in 2018. It is a story worth telling and worth reading.
Richard Hibey’s oral history can be found here.