In the mid-1970s, he practiced in Caracas, Venezuela and Paris, France with companies like Ford and Schlumberger, Ltd.
After returning to the United States in the early 1980s, he worked as lead counsel for the Motion Picture Association under movie mogul Jack Valenti.
Richard then served as general counsel for Fairchild Camera and Instruments in Mountain View, California before they headed back east to New York City in the mid 1980's.
He and his wife, also an attorney, started their own international legal consulting firm in the early-1990s, and Richard also wrote and published travel books during this time.
In 2002, Campagna ran on the Libertarian Party ticket for lieutenant governor of Iowa with gubernatorial candidate Clyde Cleveland.