RICHARD J. HIRN

ATTORNEY  AT  LAW

5335 Wisconsin Avenue,  N.W.  Suite 440,  Washington, D.C. 20015

202-274-1812           202-274-1813  (facsimile)        richard@hirnlaw.com

Richard J. Hirn has earned a national reputation for innovative and progressive approaches to Federal administrative, trial and appellate litigation. His cases do not rely on precedent as often as create it - such as the landmark Supreme Court decision establishing the right of certain Federal employees to collectively bargain over wages and monetary fringe benefits.

Hirn's cases have pioneered unique theories in constitutional law, employment discrimination, labor relations and other legal matters having public impact. For example, he litigated the first case of Hawaiian national origin discrimination, Kahakua et al v. Friday. This case was the subject of a special report on All Things Considered, broadcast on National Public Radio, and was the subject of an article in the centennial issue of The Yale Law Journal, Voices of America: Antidiscrimination Law and the Jurisprudence for the Last Reconstruction.

In another case which received national press coverage as well as editorial support in USA Today and The Washington Post, Hirn obtained a permanent injunction against random drug testing of forecasters at the National Weather Service. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that there was no evidence of drug abuse at the National Weather Service which warranted the invasion of privacy that drug testing entails. In an editorial, the USA Today declared its support for Hirn’s efforts to protect the Fourth Amendment, saying "we don’t have to shoot down individual rights to win the war on drugs."

His clients include labor organizations, professional and educational associations and other non-profits, as well as individuals, who seek to use the law to affect positive social and economic change.