F. Thomas Hecht

Mr. Hecht has litigated and tried cases at all levels of state and federal courts. He has represented clients at trial, in arbitrations, and on numerous appeals including appeals before both the Illinois and United States Supreme Courts. He is also a member of the Executive Committee.

Some of Mr. Hecht’s significant experience includes:

Professional Liability Matters

• Mr. Hecht has represented federal regulatory agencies in numerous investigations and prosecutions arising out of the failure of financial institutions throughout the country. This work has included some of the largest and most visible civil actions against officers, directors, accountants and law firms implicated in the failure of such institutions. He has been responsible for recoveries in excess of $500 million by adjudications and settlements. These cases typically require extensive investigations and discovery, competent document control, wide-ranging motion practice and, substantively, claim for breach of fiduciary duties, fraud, gross negligence, and unjust enrichment.
• Mr. Hecht also represents various professionals and professional organizations defending them from claims made by former clients or by regulatory agencies. He also provides counsel to boards of directors concerning their fiduciary duties and duties to regulatory entities. Mr. Hecht currently represents the board of directors of a major pharmaceutical development company in defending the firm from the Sarbanes-Oxley allegations of a former executive officer.

Real Estate Litigation

• Mr. Hecht has represented substantial investors in, and owners of, real estate portfolios in disputes over how real estate is managed. He has recently completed two major matters for a major Chicago bank involving allegations of serious mismanagement and deficient sale/leaseback analysis. This required extensive work with real estate professionals and extended analysis of sale/leaseback options as well as a working familiarity with real estate markets.
• Mr. Hecht also represents developers in their resistance to eminent domain proceedings. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. City of New London, Mr. Hecht has assisted property owners and developers responding to new and focused efforts by municipalities to seize property for development.

Environmental Torts

• Mr. Hecht represents federal and states agencies in a variety of environmental matters -- principally defending large tort claims. For example, Mr. Hecht represented the Chicago Housing Authority (“CHA”) in a 10,000 plaintiff “mass action” involving claims in excess of $500 million arising out of the presence of PCBs, PAHs and an assortment of other containments at a CHA development on the South Side of Chicago. After a mistrial was declared following Plaintiffs’ counsel’s misconduct at the first of several trials, the case settled on terms highly favorable to the CHA.
• Mr. Hecht also represented the CHA asserting asbestos property damage claims in the Johns Manville bankruptcy proceedings, securing a substantial recovery for the agency.

Constitutional and Civil Rights Litigation

• Mr. Hecht has a substantial background in Constitutional litigation and civil rights disputes. He has defended developers and owners against claims of discrimination; he has prosecuted such claims on behalf of individuals and organizations subjected to such misconduct. Mr. Hecht has tried before a Detroit jury, a major civil rights claim arising out of beatings by members of the Detroit Police Department resulting in a multimillion dollar judgment in favor of the firm’s client.
• Mr. Hecht has also litigated significant cases involving the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, search and seizure disputes, government responsibilities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the Fourth Amendment, and Supremacy Clause challenges to local efforts to control federal programs by restrictive zoning and eminent domain proceedings.
• Mr. Hecht has represented Illinois taxpayers against former Governor Rod Blagojevich and the Department of Healthcare and Family Services in a Cook County lawsuit and the resulting appeals to the Illinois Appellate and Supreme Courts challenging as unconstitutional and unlawful a taxpayer funded health insurance program instituted by Defendants. After the Circuit Court enjoined the challenged program and the appellate court affirmed that injunction, Tom and another U&H partner were requested to and appeared before the Illinois House’s Special Investigative Committee to testify and provide documents.  The lawsuit figured prominently in the impeachment of the former Governor. The lawsuit is part of the articles of impeachment.
• Mr. Hecht has represented owners of federally-subsidized affordable housing against city in federal and state actions involving, among other things, preemption under the U.S. Constitutions’ Supremacy and Property Clauses and fair housing and civil rights laws and in appeals and arguments before the Seventh Circuit.