Richard Ruohonen on Winning Trials, the Olympics, and Speaking Out When It Matters

In this episode of Raising the Bar with RebuttalPR, host Ray DeLorenzi sits down with Rich Ruohonen, a partner at TSR Injury Law in Bloomington, Minnesota, whose career spans nearly three decades of plaintiff’s work in traumatic brain injury, car accidents, product liability, and premises liability cases.

The conversation digs deep into what Rich calls the parallels between being a competitive athlete and being a trial lawyer — from his firm’s “Fight Club” practice sessions for opening statements, to the sports psychology principles he applies in the courtroom, to the mental resilience required to push through week-long trials on four hours of sleep. Rich has tried roughly 90 cases and has not lost one since around 2011 or 2012, a streak that now stands at 27 consecutive wins heading into 2026.

Rich also shares the story behind his Olympic journey — eight failed bids before coming out of retirement at 55 to help a younger team through injuries, winning the Olympic trials, and then traveling to Milan–Cortina as the oldest American Winter Olympian in history, breaking a 94-year-old record. He describes what it felt like to finally stand in that arena with his family watching, and why the experience was the greatest moment of his life.

The episode closes with Rich’s account of speaking out at his Olympic press conference about ICE operations in Minnesota — a decision he made deliberately, knowing there would be death threats and backlash from the administration. He explains why he believes lawyers have an obligation to speak when the rule of law is being violated, and why free speech isn’t free if it stays in the locker room.