Ed Heffernan practices labor and employment law, with a sharp focus on the financial services sector. He protects his clients’ commercial interests: He enforces employment contracts, he protects trade secrets, and he protects intellectual property rights.
Ed devotes much of his practice to restrictive covenant litigation and defending employers from workplace claims, including age, race, and gender discrimination; wrongful termination; retaliation; constructive discharge; and defamation. He regularly handles arbitrations involving unsuitable investments, financial services industry violations, regulatory investigations, and incentive compensation, many of which involve close coordination with expert witnesses.
Ed’s experience in the employment field lends greatly to his higher education practice, where he defends colleges and universities in disputes involving student discipline, privacy issues, the accommodation of disabilities, and student and faculty contract and due process claims. His background includes working as an associate with a large Philadelphia law firm where his practice centered on high-profile multidistrict pharmaceutical litigation and government investigations. Before practicing law, he worked as a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority licensed representative for a national mutual fund company.
Awards and Honors
- Included on the 2012 through 2021 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Stars lists
- Winner of the Forty-Fifth Annual Reimel Moot Court Competition, Villanova University School of Law
- Villanova University School of Law Moot Court Board
Practice Highlights
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Obtained temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction in federal court preventing former employees from soliciting customers after they removed confidential customer information and soliciting and encouraging the company’s current employees to discontinue their employment with the company, and requiring the return of all confidential customer information.
Caliber Home Loans v. CMG, et al., No. 16-01167, M.D.Fla (2016)
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Obtained $3.3 million arbitration award, including attorney’s fees, in breach of contract action against former employee and defeated counterclaims for wrongful termination and incentive awards.
Merrill Lynch v. Dexter, FINRA-DR No. 12-01989, New York, NY (2014)
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Obtained summary dismissal in federal court on former student’s claims of breach of contract and violation of constitutional due process concerning university disciplinary hearing procedures, its findings, and the sanctions imposed by the university on the former student.
Johnson v. Temple University, No. 12-00515, E.D.Pa (2013)
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Obtained arbitration award of over $300,000, including attorney’s fees, on breach of contract claim against former employee and defeated counterclaims of tortious interference with contract, defamation, and breach of contract, for which he sought over $1 million in damages.
Merrill Lynch v. Capps, FINRA-DR No. 11-02203, Richmond, VA (2012)
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Obtained dismissal of a student’s complaint alleging discrimination and due process violations on behalf of all defendants in federal court.
Osei v. Temple University, et al., No. 10-2042, E.D.Pa. (2011)
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Defeated motion for temporary restraining order filed in state court against university by a graduate student who accused university of violating her contractual and constitutional due process rights after being dismissed from doctoral program.
Azzam v. Temple University, No. 003215, Phila. Ct. of Common Pleas (2009)