Contact Information
Biography
Richard Heppner is an associate dean for faculty scholarship and associate professor of law at the Thomas R. Kline School of Law of Duquesne University. He teaches courses in civil procedure and pretrial litigation practice, as well as federal courts and antitrust law. His scholarly interests include civil procedure, federal courts, legal interpretation, and appellate theory and advocacy. His research explores how written court opinions reveal judicial decision-making processes, and it investigates the relationship between legal interpretation and literary and psychological theory.
Legal Experience
Before coming to the Duquesne Kline School of Law, Heppner was a member of the Appellate
Group at Reed Smith LLP in Pittsburgh. He represented a wide variety of clients, from
individual civil-rights clients to nonprofit organizations to multinational corporations-handling
appeals, drafting briefs, and arguing in state and federal appellate courts around
the country. He has also served as a judicial law clerk for Judge Thomas Hardiman
on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and Judge Nora Barry Fischer on
the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. He earned his J.D.
from Harvard University, where he was Notes and Comments Editor of the Harvard Journal
of Law and Technology and a teaching fellow for a constitutional history course.
Higher Education Experience
Before law school, Heppner was a professor of English Literature, teaching literature
and writing at colleges and universities in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. His literary
scholarship addressed the interplay of British modernist literature, psychoanalysis,
and literary theory. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. in English Literature from Tufts University,
as well as a B.A. in English Literature from Kenyon College.
Heppner is a Pittsburgh native. He lives in the East End with his spouse who is a college professor.
Education
- J.D., Harvard Law School
- Ph.D., Tufts University
- M.A., Tufts University
- B.A., Kenyon College
Areas of Expertise
- Federal Civil Procedure
- Appellate Practice & Procedure
- Antitrust Law
Profile Information
About
Civil Procedure and Drafting I
Civil Procedure II
Federal Courts
Antitrust
Pretrial Civil Litigation Simulation
Introduction to Legal Education, the Lives of Lawyers, and the Legal Profession (undergraduate)
- 2025 International Serious Play Awards, Silver Medal – Higher Education, Tabletop/Board Games
- Dr. John and Liz Murray Excellence in Scholarship Award (2023)
- John G. Rangos Sr. Prize for pedagogical innovation (2022, 2023)
- Allegheny County Bar Association
- Association of American Law Schools, Section on Law & Interpretation
- Association for the Study of Law, Culture, & the Humanities
- U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania - Admitted
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit - Admitted
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit - Admitted
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit - Admitted
- Pennsylvania Bar - Admitted
- Massachusetts Bar – Admitted
Let the Right Ones In: The Supreme Court's Changing Approach to Justiciability
Richard L. Heppner Jr., Let the Right Ones in: The Supreme Court's Changing Approach to Justiciability, 61 DUQ. L. REV. 79 (2023).
Rooted: Metaphors and Judicial Philosophy in Artis v. District of Columbia
Richard L. Heppner Jr., Rooted: Metaphors and Judicial Philosophy in Artis v. District of Columbia, 56 IND. L. REV. 329 (2023).
How to Raise Disagreements with Senior Attorneys
Richard L. Heppner Jr., How to Raise Disagreements with Senior Attorneys. 26 TYL 7 (Winter 2022)
Appealing Compelled Disclosures in Discovery that Threaten First Amendment Rights
Richard L. Heppner Jr., Appealing Compelled Disclosures in Discovery that Threaten First Amendment Rights. Kansas Law Review (forthcoming 2022) SSRN
Conceptualizing Appealability: Resisting the Supreme Court's Categorical Imperative
Richard L. Heppner Jr., Conceptualizing Appealability: Resisting the Supreme Court's Categorical Imperative, 55 Tulsa L. Rev. 393-440 (May 2020). SSRN
Statutory Damages and Standing After Spokeo v. Robins
Richard L. Heppner Jr., Statutory Damages and Standing After Spokeo v. Robins, 9 ConLawNOW 125-137 (2018). SSRN
Understanding Standing After Spokeo v. Robins
Richard L. Heppner Jr., Understanding Standing After Spokeo v. Robins, The Legal Intelligencer, June 22, 2016.
Judicial Factfinding on Appeal: Seeking Clarity in an Information Age
Richard L. Heppner Jr., Judicial Factfinding on Appeal: Seeking Clarity in an Information Age, Certworthy - DRI - The Voice of The Defense Bar, April 22, 2016 (with James Martin,
Colin Wrabley, Patrick Yingling).
Making Sense of Class Actions After Braun and Dukes
Richard L. Heppner Jr., Making Sense of Class Actions After Braun and Dukes, Legal Intelligencer, February 11, 2015 (with Kim Watterson).
Minimizing the Potential Risks of Multiparty Arbitration
Richard L. Heppner Jr., Minimizing the Potential Risks of Multiparty Arbitration, Legal Intelligencer, January 29, 2014 (with Kim Watterson).
Who Says When Litigation Waives the Right to Arbitrate
Richard L. Heppner Jr., Who Says When Litigation Waives the Right to Arbitrate?, Law360, January 16, 2014.
6th Circ. Gives Courts Say On Classwide Arbitrability
Richard L. Heppner Jr., 6th Circ. Gives Courts Say On Classwide Arbitrability, Law360, December 18, 2013 (with Kim Watterson).
Third Circuit Grapples With Privilege and Appellate Jurisdiction
Richard L. Heppner Jr., Third Circuit Grapples With Privilege and Appellate Jurisdiction, Law360, March 20, 2013 (with Colin Wrabley, Aditya Nagarajan).
Policy Disagreements with the United States Sentencing Guidelines: A Welcome Expansion
of Judicial Discretion or the Beginning of the End of the Sentencing Guidelines?
Richard L. Heppner Jr., Policy Disagreements with the United States Sentencing Guidelines: A Welcome Expansion
of Judicial Discretion or the Beginning of the End of the Sentencing Guidelines?, 50 Duq. L. Rev. (Winter 2012) (with Honorable Thomas M. Hardiman).
Revised Removal Statutes - Possibilities, Pitfalls: Part 1
Richard L. Heppner Jr., Revised Removal Statutes - Possibilities, Pitfalls: Part 1, Law360, February 3, 2012 (with Colin Wrabley).
Mrs. Dalloway's Invitation
Richard L. Heppner Jr., Mrs. Dalloway's Invitation, Virginia Woolf Miscellany Vol. 65, Spring 2004.Book Chapter
Richard L. Heppner Jr., "Federal Court Certification of State Law Questions" Third Circuit Appellate Practices Manual (PBI Press, Third Edition, 2016) (with Kim Watterson).
“Tag! The Jurisdiction Game”
- Southeastern Association of Law Schools 2025 Annual Conference, Amelia Island, FL (July 2025).
- Civil Procedure Pedagogy Workshop, Southeastern Association of Law Schools 2024 Annual Conference, Fort Lauderdale, FL (July 2024).
“Metaphorical Jurisdiction”
- Law, Culture & the Humanities 2025 Conference, Georgetown University Law Center (June 2025).
- Law & Literature Discussion Group, Southeastern Association of Law Schools 2025 Annual Conference, Amelia Island, FL (July 2024).
“Personal Jurisdiction and the Metaphysics of Presence”
- Civil Procedure Workshop Southeastern Association of Law Schools 2024 Annual Conference, Fort Lauderdale, FL (July 2024).
- Law & Literature Discussion Group, Southeastern Association of Law Schools 2024 Annual Conference, Fort Lauderdale, FL (July 2024).
“Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co.”
- CLE Panel “Major 2022 – 23 Supreme Court Cases: Duquesne Kline School of Law Faculty Explain” Duquesne Kline School of Law (September 2023).
“Law as Allegory in Charles Dickens’s Bleak House”
- Law & Literature Discussion Group, Southeastern Association Law Schools 2023 Annual Conference, Boca Raton, Florida (July 2023).
“Figurative Language in the Supreme Court’s ‘History and Tradition’ Approach to Constitutional Rights”
- Modern Language Association Annual Convention, San Francisco, CA (virtual) (January 2023).
“Drafting Effective Motions & Briefs for Summary Judgment”
- CLE Presentation, American Bar Association (virtual) (December 2022).
“Rooted: Lawmaking Metaphors and Judicial Philosophy”
- Civil Procedure Works-in-Progress Series, Southeastern Association of Law Schools 2022 Annual Conference, Sandestin, FL (August 2022).
- Law & Literature Discussion Group, Southeastern Association of Law Schools 2022 Annual Conference, Sandestin, FL (July 2022).
"Lawmaking Metaphors in Artis v. District of Columbia”
- Law, Culture & the Humanities 2022 Conference, Emory University School of Law (June 2022).
“Immediate Appeals of Compelled Disclosures in Civil Discovery that Threaten First Amendment Rights”
- Civil Procedure Workshop Summer Works-In-Progress Series (virtual) (August 2021).
- Sixth Annual Civil Procedure Workshop, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law (virtual) (October 2020).
"Third Circuit Appeals: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know"
- Richard L. Heppner Jr., Third Circuit Appeals: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know, CLE Presentation at Allegheny County Bar Association (June 8, 2020).
"The Concept of Appealability: Resisting the Supreme Court's Categorical Imperative"
- Richard L. Heppner Jr., The Concept of Appealability: Resisting the Supreme Court's Categorical Imperative, presentation at Junior Faculty Federal Courts Workshop, University of Arkansas School of Law (September 2019).
"Toward a Concept Model of ‘Finality for Appeal'"
- Richard L. Heppner Jr., Toward a Concept Model of ‘Finality for Appeal,' presentation at Junior Faculty Forum, University of Richmond School of Law (June 2019).
"What We Talk About When We Talk About Law: Foregrounding Metaphors in Judicial Opinions"
- Richard L. Heppner Jr., What We Talk About When We Talk About Law: Foregrounding Metaphors in Judicial Opinions, presentation at Mon River Colloquium (April 3, 2018).