Education

  • B.A., Indiana University, summa cum laude with honors in history, phi beta kappa, 1967
  • M.A. in History, Harvard University, Woodrow Wilson Fellow, 1968
  • J.D., Stanford University Law School, 1974

Employment History

  • United States Peace Corps, Ethiopia, 1968-1970
    Worked as a teacher and as a community development worker in remote villages in the Ethiopian highlands and in the Ogaden desert, near Somalia.
  • Woodcraftsman, Thales Marine, San Diego, 1970-1971.
  • Law Offices of Barry Tarlow, Los Angeles, California, Associate, 1974-1975
    Specialized in defending complex criminal cases and drafting and arguing appeals in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
  • Special Assistant to the Chief Counsel, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Activities, Washington D.C., 1975-1976
    Worked closely with Chief Counsel F. A. O. Schwartz, Jr. investigating potential abuses by the intelligence community, including attempts to assassinate foreign leaders and to undermine domestic political movements. Extensive work acquiring documents, deposing witnesses, writing reports, drafting legislation, andv preparing Senators Church and Mondale for hearings. A major drafter of Senate reports on CIA attempts to assassinate Fidel Castro and on FBI attempts to discredit Martin Luther King.

  • Assistant United States Attorney, Washington D.C., 1976-1981
    Prosecuted hundreds of criminal cases in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia and in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Cases ranged from misdemeanors to first degree murders to complex white collar prosecutions. Served rotations in the misdemeanor, grand jury, felony trial, and appellate divisions. Served as the Deputy Director of Superior Court Operations, overseeing all felony prosecutions in the District of Columbia, and as the Executive Assistant United States Attorney under United States Attorney Charles C. Ruff, with responsibility for coordinating local and Federal law enforcement agencies, reviewing and authorizing major local and Federal prosecutions, trying high-profile prosecutions in the nation’s capital, and assisting in managing the nation’s largest Federal prosecutor’s office of more than 160 civil and criminal lawyers.

  • Special Assistant United States Attorney, U.S. Virgin Islands, 1981-1982
    Prosecuted major felonies in the UnitedStates Virgin Islands, including a series of high-profile murdercases and economic crimes.
  • Partner, Law Firm of Alkon and Rhea, 1982-1991
    Founded prominent plaintiff’s and white-collar criminal defense firm in the United States Virgin Islands, specializing in toxic tort litigation, product liability cases, and complex white collar cases, predominantly involving tax issues or government corruption claims. Over a period of fifteen years, brought a host of cases against the Hess Oil refinery and the Martin Marietta bauxite refinery in the Virgin Islands for toxic exposure to workers, including asbestos, heavy-metal catalysts, silica, solvents, and isocyanate paints. Also brought ground-breaking product liability cases against automobile manufacturers Ford, Suzuki, and Fiat involving injuries caused by vehicle instability, firewall failures, and occupant protection failures. Handled litigation involving airplane crashes, turbulence encounters, and a wide range of catastrophic worker related injuries. Served as co-counsel in litigation against Exxon, ESSO, Texaco and others for contaminating the sole-source aquifer on the island of St. Thomas with petroleum and chlorinated hydrocarbons. Also maintained an active criminal practice, including a string of white-collar cases, homicides, and high-profile felonies. Extensive appellate work in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

  • Gordon C. Rhea, P.C., 1991-2002
    Worked as sole practitioner, handling large white-collar criminal cases and co-counseling with major national firms in large-scale civil and criminal litigation, including a class action involving some three thousand residents in the Virgin Islands claiming damages flowing from exposure to silicas and heavy metals released from a bauxite refinery. On the criminal side, represented several business men in Federal criminal investigations by the Justice Department’s Criminal Tax Division.
  • Richardson, Patrick, Westbook, and Brickman, 2003-2009
    Member, handling a variety of complex civil and criminal cases with a specialty in toxic torts, groundwater and industrial pollution, and white-collar criminal defense. Managed major litigation involving abusive tax shelters and promoter liability against national accounting firms, including KPMG.  Represented New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands in litigation against major oil companies to recover damages and cleanup costs from contamination to groundwater resources from petroleum and petroleum additives, such as MTBE.


  • Gordon C. Rhea, P.C. 2009-Present
    Chief litigator handling environmental and toxic tort matters for Richardson, Patrick, Westbrook, and Brickman in an Of Counsel capacity. In capacity of Gordon C. Rhea P.C., handling high-profile white collar criminal cases, primarily involving tax matters; representing plaintiffs and defendants in a variety of commercial disputes, tax, and injury cases. Over past six years, I have averaged four to five jury trials per year.


Lectures and Public Appearences

Mr. Rhea has delivered lectures across the country at the invitation of numerous historical societies, universities, and historic preservation organizations on topics of military history and the Civil War era. Venues include the following:

  • United States Army Training and DoctrineCommand
  • National Civil War Museum
  • National Military Parks
        Fredericksburg Spotsylvania National Military Park
        Richmond National Battlefield Park
        Gettysburg National Battlefield Park
        Manassas National Battlefield Park
  • Virginia Historical Society
  • North Carolina Museum of History
  • South Carolina Department of Archives and HIstory
  • Charleston S.C. Library Society
  • Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College
  • Civil War Library and Museum, Philadelphia
  • Civil War Roundtables in New York City, Buffalo, Boston, Chicago, Charleston, Beaufort, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles, Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Columbia, Knoxville, Raleigh, New Orleans, Austin, Houston, Dallas, and a host of other cities.

Mr. Rhea has appeared multiple times as a historian and presenter on nationwide television programs, including productions by:

During the summer of 2015, as part of the Civil War Sesquicentennial Commemorations, Mr. Rhea was invited to be keynote speaker for the prestigious Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College, to lead numerous tours in conjunction with the National Park Service, and to give keynote addresses for symposiums and commemorations held at various historical sites. On average, he conducts three to four battlefield tours each year and speaks at eight to ten historical societies and civil war roundtables across the nation.