Zach Heffernen

Associate, Washington, DC

Biography

Overview

Zach Heffernen is an associate specializing in complex and appellate litigation.  

He has helped sovereign nations obtain decisive victories before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on the basis of sovereign immunity. He also represents private parties in lawsuits involving contract and treaty law, constitutional law, and securities law.  Additionally, he has represented parties in international arbitration.

Zach is actively committed to pro bono work. He has advised the United Nations Development Programme on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, and the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect on the criminalization of atrocity crimes in sovereign legal systems.  He has helped seek post-conviction relief for wrongfully convicted, drafted an article supporting the nomination of Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court, and helped teach a class on international law at Georgetown University Law Center.

During law school, Zach served as an editor on Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Law Journal and participated in a semester exchange program at Peking University in Beijing, China.  Zach has also studied in Dakar, Senegal, and Rome, Italy.

Bars and Courts
District of Columbia Bar
New York State Bar
Education
JD
Columbia Law School
BBA
University of Iowa
Languages
English

Experience