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
FALL
Civil Procedure and Drafting I
Pretrial Civil Litigation Simulation
SPRING
Civil Procedure II
Federal Courts
Antitrust
Intro. to Legal Education, the Lives of Lawyers, and the Legal Profession (undergraduate)
- 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
- Association of American Law Schools, Section on Law & Interpretation - Executive Committee
- St. Edmund's Academy - Board of Trustees
- Higher Achievement Pittsburgh - Advisory Board
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).
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).