Heller Ehrman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Heller Ehrman LLP

Headquarters	San Francisco, CA
No. of Offices	13
No. of Attorneys	730
Major Practice Areas	General practice
Revenue	$507 million USD (2006) ^[1]
Date Founded	1890
Company Type	Limited Liability Partnership
Website	www.hellerehrman.com

Heller Ehrman headquarters at 333 Bush St., San Francisco, CA

7 Times Square Tower, home of Heller Ehrman's New York City office

Heller Ehrman LLP is an international law firm of more than 650 attorneys working across 14 offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia.^[2] Heller Ehrman was founded in San Francisco in 1890 and has additional offices located in most of the major financial centers around the world including New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., London, Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore.^[3]

1 History
2 Notable Clients
3 Notable Cases & Transactions
4 Offices
5 Practice Areas
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Heller Ehrman had its beginning in 1890 when Emanuel S. Heller opened his law practice at 124 Sansome Street, Room 30, in San Francisco, California. Heller was a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, received his law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and passed the California Bar in 1889. In 1896, Francis H. Powers joined with Heller and the partnership named changed to Heller & Powers. In 1905, Sidney M. Ehrman entered into partnership with Heller and Powers, forming Heller Powers & Ehrman. In 1921, Jerome White and Florence McAuliffe join the partnership after the death of Francis Powers, establishing the firm as Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe LLP. The firm retained this name for more than 84 years until the name was shortened in 2005.^[4]

Between the years of 1974 to 2007, Heller Ehrman realized an exponential increase in business, causing the firm to branch out from the west coast with an additional 12 offices in locations ranging from London to Singapore. In 1986 the San Francisco headquarters was moved to a new skyscraper at 333 Bush Street. By 1991 the firm had 370 lawyers, over 3.5 times what it had employed just ten years earlier.^[5]

In 1993, the first advertisement ever sold on the internet was sold on the Global Network Navigator (now America On-Line) to Heller Ehrman LLP,^[6] and in 1994 Heller Ehrman launched the first law firm website.^[7]

By 2007 the firm had over 730 lawyers, over twice the number it employed just 15 years earlier. During the 2006 fiscal year it more than doubled its gross revenue from just 10 years earlier to a level just north of half a billion dollars.^[8]

[edit] Notable Clients

The firm has represented a number of high-profile business associations, including GE, Microsoft Corporation, Apple, Sony Corporation, Texas Instruments, QUALCOMM Inc., Wells Fargo Bank, Bank of America, Bank of New York, Washington Mutual, Ampex Corporation, Levi Strauss & Co., Consolidated Foods (Sara Lee Corporation), McDonald's Corporation, Starwood Hotels, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Phillip Morris, Credit Suisse, VISA, and Yahoo! Inc..^[9]

[edit] Notable Cases & Transactions

In 1929 the firm negotiated the financing for the construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

In 1937 the firm arranged for financing of the Golden Gate Bridge. One of the firm's partners, Jerome White, served as the Golden Gate Bridge District's General Counsel.

The firm took on a landmark antitrust case GTE Sylvania, Inc. v. Continental T.V., Inc. in 1965, which was reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1975. The Court ruled in favor of Heller's client GTE Sylvania. The case set a precedent for applying the "rule of reason" to vertical business restraints.

In 1968 Heller Ehrman helped form ALZA Corporation, a pioneer in producing certain drug delivery methods. ALZA remains a long-term client.

In 1969 the firm argued Parisi v. Davidson pro bono before the U.S. Supreme Court. The case was successfully argued and helped to define the rights of conscientious objectors during the Vietnam War.

One of the firm's best-known pro bono cases occurred in Trafficante v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The firm represented white plaintiffs against Metropolitan Life on behalf of minority residents because of the insurance company's discrimination against the minorities in a San Francisco apartment. Both the U.S. District Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said the white plaintiffs had no standing to sue because they themselves were not facing discrimination, however, in 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court passed down a unanimous decision that the plaintiffs did indeed have standing to sue on behalf of the minority residents.

In 1976 Heller Ehrman defended client Arthur Young & Company in SEC v . Geotek, 426 F. Supp. 718 (N.D. Cal. 1976), affirmed, 590 F.2d 785 (9th Cir. 1979), which became the SEC's flagship case against the accounting profession.

In 2002 Heller Ehrman negotiated a class action settlement package for McDonald's Corporation in response to the highly publicized "french fry" litigation.

Since 2002 Heller Ehrman represented Navy veteran Norbert Basil MacLean III who was shut of the Supreme Court due to an inequity in federal law prohibiting service members from filing a petition for certiorari. Heller was instrumental in obtaining bipartisan support on the Equal Justice for Our Military Act of 2007 and the Equal Justice for United States Military Personnel Act of 2007 pending in the 110th U.S. Congress. If passed, and signed into law by the president, it would give all service members equal access to the Supreme Court for the first time in America's history.

In 2003 Heller Ehrman represented Northrop Grumman Corporation in the $4.7 billion sale of TRW Automotive to The Blackstone Group.^[10] The transaction resulted in one of the largest leveraged buyouts in world history.