About R.J.
R.J. Heher built a career at the intersection of business training and legal training. He began his academic journey at the University of San Francisco, earning a B.A. in 1967. He then moved to the University of California, Berkeley, where he completed an M.B.A. in Marketing in 1970. Eight years later he earned a J.D. from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco in 1978.
Those dates mark more than credentials. They signal a path that combines commercial thinking with legal analysis. After law school he entered practice in California. Over the years he has been affiliated with Fenwick & West LLP, a firm known for serving businesses. He has practiced under California jurisdiction throughout his career.
His background in marketing and business school shapes how he views legal problems. He tends to approach matters by weighing commercial consequences alongside technical legal questions. That perspective informs client conversations and deal work. It also affects how he frames legal risk for business leaders who are not lawyers.
Colleagues describe his work as pragmatic. He handles transactions and regulatory touchpoints that require both legal precision and business judgment. He has been involved in matters where negotiating terms, structuring agreements, and aligning legal documents with business strategy were key. He has worked with in-house teams and outside counsel on issues that require translating business objectives into enforceable provisions.
Throughout his time at Fenwick & West LLP he has contributed to cases and deals that require coordinating across disciplines. He has worked alongside attorneys who advise companies at various stages of growth. His dual training—an M.B.A. and a law degree—allows him to move between boardroom concerns and courtroom or transactional detail without losing sight of either.
Outside of client work he has maintained ties to the networks that connect law and business. He keeps up with shifts in market practice and regulatory change that affect corporate clients. He also draws on nearly five decades of professional experience when assessing new matters.
As of 2026 he practices in California at Fenwick & West LLP, advising clients on legal issues that arise where business strategy and law intersect.
