Eric Hecker joined the firm in 2002. His practice focuses on civil rights litigation, including First Amendment, children’s rights, election law, police misconduct, prisoners’ rights, and employment discrimination issues, and on commercial litigation, including business torts, partnership disputes, and intellectual property. Mr. Hecker also teaches a course in election law at Cardozo Law School.

Mr. Hecker clerked for three federal judges: David Tatel of the D.C. Circuit, Thelton Henderson of the Northern District of California, and the late Constance Baker Motley of the Southern District of New York. Prior to joining ECBA, Mr. Hecker worked at Kirkland & Ellis in New York, at the ACLU of Northern California in San Francisco, and at the Prison Law Office in San Quentin.

University of Michigan Law School, J.D., magna cum laude, 1997; Order of the Coif; Article Editor, Michigan Law Review

University of Pennsylvania, B.A., 1991

Atlantic Outdoor v. City of New York – Represents a coalition of outdoor advertising companies in a First Amendment challenge to New York City's regulation of highway billboards.

Goldstein v. Pataki – Represents various building owners and tenants in a lawsuit alleging that the use of eminent domain to condemn their properties in connection with the Atlantic Yards development project in Brooklyn violates the Public Use Clause of the Fifth Amendment.

Riverside Syndicate, Inc. v. Monroe – Represents rent-stabilized tenants in an appeal before the New York Court of Appeals in which the landlord is seeking to void a prior consent judgment on the ground that the tenants' waiver of certain of their rights under the rent-stabilization laws violates public policy.

Green Party v. State of New Jersey – Represents the Green, Libertarian, and Conservative Parties in an action alleging that New Jersey's campaign finance regulatory scheme, which subjects alternative political parties to more onerous restrictions that the Democrats and Republicans, violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

Estate of Emil Mann v. Walder – Represents the family of Emil Mann, an unarmed member of the Ramapough Lenape Indian Nation who was fatally shot by an officer of the New Jersey State Park Police while attending a family barbeque, in a civil rights and wrongful death action.

Swisher Int'l v. Johanns – Represents a cigar manufacturer in a Takings Clause challenge to the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004, which imposes monetary assessments on tobacco companies in order to fund a $10 billion buyout of tobacco growers who participated in the government's recently dismantled price support program.

K.J. v. State of New Jersey – Represented three New Jersey foster children who were systematically starved by their foster and adoptive parents over a period of years in a civil rights action against the State and the case workers who failed to protect them.

Rodriguez v. Pataki – Represented a coalition of voters in an Equal Protection Clause and Voting Rights Act challenge to the 2002 redistricting of the New York State Senate districts.

Sirico v. Atlantic City Hilton – Represented actor Tony Sirico (who portrays "Paulie Walnuts" on HBO's The Sopranos) in an action alleging that the Hilton's unauthorized use of his likeness on a billboard violated the Lanham Act and state law.

Partisan Redistricting: From Justiciable Claims to Manageable Standards, New York University Law School (2/23/07)

Hesitant Judges, Bare-Knuckle Politics, and Elusive Standards: The Texas Gerrymandering Cases, Cardozo Law School (3/29/06)

The Uses and Abuses of Redistricting, Cardozo Law School (10/18/04)

State of New York; U.S. Supreme Court; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second and District of Columbia Circuits; U.S. District Court for the Southern, Eastern, and Northern Districts of New York

Member, Election Law Committee and New York City Affairs Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York