Nicolas “Nic” Riley is counsel at Hecker Fink LLP.
Nic is an accomplished appellate litigator with significant experience in civil rights law. He has argued and won numerous cases in state and federal appellate courts, representing a diverse range of clients including the federal government, local governments, non-profits, journalists, students, workers, protestors, and survivors of police violence.
Nic joined the firm following his clerkship with the Honorable Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson of the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to his clerkship, he served for three years in the Department of Justice as Deputy Chief of the Civil Rights Division’s Appellate Section, where he helped oversee the Department’s appellate strategy in civil rights cases nationwide. In that role, he supervised appeals concerning voting rights, employment discrimination, police misconduct, disability rights, fair housing, and education equity, and counseled the Division’s trial offices on complex investigations and high-profile enforcement actions.
Before joining the Civil Rights Division, Nic was senior counsel at Georgetown’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy & Protection. There, he served as lead counsel in a broad array of constitutional and civil rights matters, briefed and argued several cases of first impression in trial and appellate courts, and spearheaded a novel line of cases challenging restrictions on public access to judicial proceedings and court records.
Earlier in his career, Nic served as a member of the Department of Justice’s Civil Appellate Staff, where he represented federal agencies and officials in high-stakes appeals around the country. He also served as a fellow and counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, focusing on voting rights litigation. Nic clerked for the Honorable Sidney R. Thomas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Honorable Claudia Wilken of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Nic received his B.A., magna cum laude, from University of Pennsylvania and his J.D., from Yale Law School, where he served as Director of the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project.