July 13, 2005
MENLO PARK – Heller Ehrman LLP today announced the addition of Raymond Hixson, Jr. as a shareholder in the firm’s Silicon Valley office. Mr. Hixson joins Heller Ehrman from Fenwick & West LLP, where he litigated employment cases in both state and federal courts and provided strategic advice to employers concerning matters such as hiring, terminations, workforce reductions, compensation, investigations, employment agreements and personnel policies. Mr. Hixson’s experience covers a wide variety of employment and labor subjects, including laws prohibiting employment discrimination, wage and hour laws, trade secrets laws, unfair competition laws, family and medical leave laws, and laws dealing with employer-union relations.
“The clients served by our 100+ attorneys in Silicon Valley have regular and recurring needs for labor and employment counseling and litigation expertise. Heller Ehrman’s expanding practice serving emerging companies since our merger with Venture Law Group has magnified that need. Ray’s expertise and entrepreneurial instincts fit perfectly with our growing needs” said Paul Alexander, Office Managing Shareholder of Heller Ehrman’s Silicon Valley office.
Mr. Hixson earned his B.S. in industrial engineering, with highest honors, in 1991 from the University of Tennessee and his J.D., summa cum laude, Order of the Coif, in 1994 from the University of Tennessee. Upon graduation, Mr. Hixson joined the Chattanooga, TN office of Miller & Martin PLLC. In 1998, he joined the Palo Alto office of Fenwick & West where he was made a partner in 2002. Mr. Hixson serves on the Judiciary Committee of the Santa Clara County Bar Association (SCCBA) and he is a member of the Executive Committee of the Labor & Employment Law Section of SCCBA. He speaks regularly at seminars sponsored by SCCBA, the Northern California Human Resources Association, and various other organizations. He has also served as a volunteer arbitrator for the Santa Clara County Superior Court’s Judicial Arbitration Program.
“I am very excited to join Heller Ehrman. Heller Ehrman’s busy Venture Law Group practice provides the perfect platform for me to continue to grow my core practice of advising high-tech employers and defending them in litigation. My existing clients will benefit greatly from the extraordinary resources the firm offers, including its national and global geographic presence, and a growing team of over 720 attorneys dedicated to delivering the highest quality of legal representation in an extraordinary number of areas of expertise,” noted Mr. Hixson. “In addition to Venture Law Group’s impressive platform of technology clients, Heller Ehrman is blessed with an extraordinarily diverse base of institutional litigation clients spanning numerous industries that I look forward to working with,” he added.