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Laurie Hepler

Laurie Hepler

Partner

Chair of the Appellate Practice Group

San Francisco

415.989.5900

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Expertise

Specializes in Civil Appeals

• Ms. Hepler regularly briefs and argues civil appeals and petitions for extraordinary relief in appellate courts throughout California, as well as in other state and federal courts around the United States.

Dispositive Trial Court Work

• At the trial level, Ms. Hepler prepares and argues high-stakes motions, and partners with trial counsel on strategies to best position the case for appeal. She has also won several judgments as lead trial counsel.

Strategic Analysis and Coverage Opinions

• In addition to handling matters in litigation, Ms. Hepler is experienced in analyzing insurance coverage exposure as well as other potential liabilities, and in counseling clients on how to resolve disputes where appropriate with the least adverse impact to the client’s business.

Broad Range of Subject Matter

• Ms. Hepler has experience in a wide range of subject areas, including insurance broker errors and omissions, unfair competition, product liability, contract disputes and wrongful termination.

Publications and Presentations

• Consultant, Civil Writ Practice (Cont. Ed. Bar 4th ed. 2008)
• "The Seven Deadly Sins in a Cases Headed for Appeal," presented at the California State Bar Annual Meeting (September 2007)
• Protecting Your Trial Record for Appeal, published in California Lawyer (January 2006)
• Beyond the Envelope: Discovery Sanctions in State and Federal Courts (co-author), published in California Litigation (September 2005)
• Open to Interpretation: Supreme Court to Unravel Knot of Rulings on Constitutionality of Amended CCP §1008, published in The Recorder (October 2004)
• Testing the Limits: Why "Non-Products" Coverage Is Unavailable for Asbestos Bodily Injury Claims, published for the American Bar Association’s 2003 Insurance Coverage Litigation CLE Seminar (March 2003)
• Supreme Court Reviews Budget Impasse Payments to State Workers, published in California Public Employee Relations Journal (December 2002)

Reported Cases

• In RLI Ins. Co. v. CNA Casualty of Calif. (2006) 141 Cal.App.4th 75, persuaded the Second District to reject its precedent on point and hold that an excess insurer cannot sue a primary carrier in subrogation for bad-faith refusal to settle an underlying tort claim, where that claim was not tried and the insured suffered no excess judgment
• In Boyer v. Jensen (2005) 129 Cal.App.4th 62, established precedent that an employee cannot waive his employer’s statute of limitations defense to a third-party tort claim, even where the sole theory against the employer is respondeat superior
• In White v. Davis (2003) 30 Cal.4th 528, established protections for public employees during a state budget impasse, selecting and briefing the only issues on which any appellant prevailed
• In PLCM Group v. Drexler (2000) 22 Cal.4th 1084, established the law that corporations represented by in-house counsel can recover contractual attorney fees, and that fees are calculated at reasonable market rates