James H. Heller, chair of the firm's Product Liability Practice Group and co-chair of the Commercial Litigation Department, joined the firm in August 1985. Jim is a member of the firm's Board of Directors. Jim practices out of the Philadelphia office. Jim handles complex commercial disputes and catastrophic personal injury claims. He has vast litigation experience, including product liability and toxic tort claims, in both individual and class actions, and has appeared in state and federal courts across the country.
During his tenure at Cozen O’Connor, Jim has had extensive litigation experience, trying more than 50 cases to verdict or judgment in state and federal courts throughout the United States. Jim is the national coordinating attorney and national trial attorney for an international product manufacturer. He has litigated hundreds of products' liability matters throughout the United States, many of which involve serious personal injury or wrongful death claims from residential fires or neurological injuries from exposure to carbon monoxide. A number of these claims have been pursued on a class action basis.
Jim has also litigated numerous commercial disputes, including claims of fraud, complex breach of contract actions, shareholder derivative actions and litigation arising out of the sale or merger of publicly held companies. He has prosecuted fraud practices by health care providers, attorneys, and claimants. He also has intellectual property litigation experience having prosecuted claims throughout the United States for patent, copyright, and trademark infringement.
Jim earned his Bachelor of Arts at the University of Michigan in 1982, and his J.D. at the University of Miami in 1985. He is a member of Phi Alpha Delta.