Mr. Heppt’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, matters that require development of deliberate start-to-finish strategies, use of procedural devices to advance objectives, and presentation of arguments in compelling written form. Mr. Heppt has applied these skills in a wide range of business disputes, including shareholder derivative suits, partnership disputes, purchase and leasing disputes and business divorces that involve the dissolution and valuation of jointly held entities. His representations have included real estate developers and owners, aircraft owner/lessors and financing companies, private equity investors, construction companies, technology companies, and partners in various business ventures.

While his experience covers a range of businesses, Mr. Heppt has gained industry-specific recognition through his participation in high stakes aviation litigation. His detailed list of representative matters is included below, but one of Mr. Heppt’s more recent accomplishments include winning a $409 million judgment – the largest ever by a Smith Gambrell & Russell attorney in the firm’s 130+ year existence – after a federal bench trial in the SDNY. That judgment, which has been fully satisfied, arose from an aircraft leasing dispute between a foreign airline and a foreign leasing company. In that same action, Mr. Heppt achieved another notable victory by obtaining the first ever order from a U.S. court granting immediate possession of a leased object pursuant to an international treaty known as the “Cape Town Convention,” allowing his client to repossess an aircraft located in Asia and lease it to another airline before a final determination of his client’s claims.

Mr. Heppt regularly appears before federal courts throughout the United States and the state courts of New York. He has participated in jury and bench trials, evidentiary hearings for injunctive and other provisional relief, and has litigated arbitrations from start to finish. He is an active member of the New York City Bar Association’s Council on Judicial Administration, where he collaborates with New York Supreme Court Justices, court administrators and colleagues on initiatives regarding developments in the law. He is the former Secretary of the State Courts of Superior Jurisdiction Committee for the New York City Bar Association.