CORRECTED-Law firm Hecker Fink adds Supreme Court vet from O'Melveny

By David Thomas

Feb 4 (Reuters) - A New York law firm pressing several legal challenges against U.S. President Donald Trump's administration said Wednesday it has hired a leading U.S. Supreme Court litigator to boost its appellate practice.

Jeffrey Fisher, who was a special counsel at much larger firm O'Melveny & Myers, has joined Hecker Fink as an of counsel, the 98-lawyer firm said.

Fisher said he will also continue to serve as co-director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford University, which handles a wide range of constitutional law cases. He said Hecker Fink's work "aligns with how I want to spend my private practice time" and with the work of the Stanford clinic. He said there were clinic cases he couldn't bring over to O'Melveny due to conflicts of interest.

An O'Melveny spokesperson thanked Fisher for his contributions to the firm in a statement.

Fisher has argued 50 Supreme Court cases, including one last year over the constitutionality of the law that required Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a U.S. ban.

Hecker Fink, which handles business litigation as well as white-collar and public interest cases, was previously known as Kaplan Hecker & Fink. The firm changed its name in 2024 after its co-founder, Roberta Kaplan, left to found another firm.

Smaller, so-called boutique law firms like Hecker Fink have gained momentum during Trump's second term, with several launching last year or growing with hires from large firms or government agencies.

Hecker Fink has emerged as a frequent courtroom opponent of the Trump administration. Partner Sean Hecker said it takes on cases "that other firms might shy away from, and I do think we've seen an influx of talent both from law firms and from government of folks who are eager to join in that fight."

The firm is representing Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran migrant whose wrongful deportation became a flashpoint in the federal government's immigration crackdown. Hecker Fink has also represented prisoners, the former head of the Office of the U.S. Special Counsel, and a Democratic congressman in cases against the administration.