Robert C. Heim is a partner at Dechert LLP. He is a nationally known trial lawyer who focuses his practice on antitrust, securities, products liability and complex commercial litigation. Mr. Heim is a past Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association and past President of the National Conference of Bar Presidents. He is an elected Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.
Mr. Heim has been consistently ranked as a leading lawyer in Chambers USA, which has praised him as “an outstanding trial lawyer,” and “extremely knowledgeable of the law and very well respected by the courts.” The 2014 edition designated him a Star Individual for his general commercial litigation practice in Pennsylvania, noting that clients describe him as “an excellent resource.” In 2014 he was the only private lawyer named as one of the three finalists for The Legal Intelligencer‘s Attorney of the Year Award. Mr. Heim was also recognized by The Legal 500 United States 2013 for his product liability and mass tort defense work within the pharmaceuticals and medical devices industry. He has been listed by The Best Lawyers in America for antitrust, arbitration, bet-the-company litigation, commercial litigation, mass tort class action litigation and mediation and was recognized as one of the top 10 trial lawyers in Pennsylvania. Describing him as “a pillar of the Philadelphia litigation community and a product liability legend” in its 2015 edition, Benchmark Litigation has regularly listed Mr. Heim as a Litigation Star, most recently in the areas of insurance, general commercial litigation, antitrust, appellate, products liability, securities, and white collar litigation. In 2014 he was the recipient of the Louis H. Pollak Champion of the Public Interest Award, in recognition of his advocacy and commitment to the public interest legal community.
Mr. Heim was appointed by the late United States Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist to the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Civil Rules and has recently completed a second term. He has been an invited speaker at the Fifth Circuit and Third Circuit Court of Appeals conferences. He also has been Chair of the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Education Board. He has lectured on both trial and appellate advocacy and taught appellate advocacy at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Mr. Heim has represented numerous Fortune 100 companies in trial and appellate matters in both state and federal courts throughout the country. They include BP Amoco, Comcast, Toll Brothers, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Altria Corp., Pfizer, US Air, Verizon Communications, AIG, Verizon Wireless, Adelphia Communications, and Wegman Supermarkets.