Professor Henry L. Hecht

Henry Hecht He joined the University of California, Berkeley School of Law faculty in 1983. Before coming to Berkeley, he served as an Assistant Special Prosecutor on the Watergate Special Prosecution Force from 1973 to 1976, and was Special Counsel to the San Francisco firm of Heller Ehrman LLP from 1977 to 1983.

He is also an independent consultant on skills training for lawyers and co-founder of The Hecht Training Group. Using the “learning by doing” method, his Training Group has presented workshops on deposition, negotiation, motion practice, and trial skills to more than 70 law firms, corporate law offices, government agencies, and bar associations across the country. (See www.HechtTrainingGroup.com.)

Hecht has lectured and written extensively for the American Bar Association (ABA), the American Law Institute-American Bar Association (ALI-ABA), California Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB), the Practising Law Institute (PLI), and the National Practice Institute (NPI). He serves on the Board of Directors for the Practice Program for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and he served on the Board of Directors of the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) for 16 years. He is also an elected member of the American Bar Foundation (ABF).

Hecht’s publications include a book, Effective Depositions, 2nd ed. (ABA 2010); three case files, Sierra Club v. Fola Coal Company, LLC: An Expert Witness Case File (co-authors Morgan and Gallagher) (2015); Scoops v. Business-Aide, Inc: A Liability and Damages Case File, 6th ed. (2013) and Donna Taylor v. Shape-Up Stores, Inc.: A Damages Case File, 3rd ed. (co-author O’Brien) (2013); and three multi-media CD-ROMs, Mastering Motions: Mechanics and Techniques (co-author T. Hallahan) (PLI 1999), Taking Effective Depositions: Mechanics and Techniques (PLI 1997), and Defending Depositions: Mechanics and Techniques (PLI 1997).