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

Metro Fuel v. City of New York – Represents a national outdoor advertising company in a First Amendment challenge to New York City’s scheme for regulating advertising signs.

Estate of Hailey Gonzalez v. City of New York – Represents the estate of a two-year-old girl who was murdered by her mother’s boyfriend while under the supervision of the City’s foster care agency in a case alleging that the City was grossly negligent in failing to protect her.

Swisher Int'l v. Vilsack – Represents a cigar manufacturer in a Takings and Due Process Clause challenge to the Fair and Equitable Tobacco Reform Act of 2004, which imposes monetary assessments on cigar companies in order to fund the government's recently dismantled tobacco price support program.

Bank One v. EchoStar – Represents a national satellite television provider in the appeal of an adverse $15 million judgment in an indemnification action.

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

Green Party v. State of New Jersey – Represented 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, violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

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.

Sirico v. Atlantic City Hilton – Represented actor Tony Sirico in an action alleging that the Hilton's unauthorized use of his likeness on a billboard violated the Lanham Act and state law.

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.

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)

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