UC Davis School of Law - Faculty & Administration - Hillman

Welcome

Robert W. Hillman

Contact Information

rwhillman@ucdavis.edu
530-752-8020
Rm. 1113 King Hall

Education

B.A. Political Science, California State University, Long Beach 1970
J.D., Duke University 1973

In the News

Professor of Law, Fair Business Practices and Investor Advocacy Chair

"The road to practicing law internationally begins at home," said Robert Hillman. "The essential prerequisite for becoming a private international lawyer is a solid grounding in domestic law. Take as many business law courses as possible without regard to whether they have a domestic or international orientation. Knowing how transactions are structured, having the ability to draft documents, to negotiate effectively and to close a business deal-these do not vary whether you're practicing domestically or internationally." Before coming to King Hall, Hillman was general counsel for Star-Kist Foods, a job that took him throughout Southeast Asia, West Africa, Latin America, and Europe. After joining the UC Davis faculty in 1984, he evaluated Chinese law schools as a consultant for the World Bank and taught two semesters at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. He has also taught at New York University, Duke, Georgia, and Florida State. The job of the private international lawyer is neither easy nor glamorous, he said. "There are long hours on the road, negotiating in stressful environments without the support mechanisms you would have at home. On the other hand, there's a diversity about what you're doing that is not to be found in domestic practice. And your working environments are certainly different and stimulating."

Special Interests

International Business Transactions, Securities Regulation, Corporate Governance, Partnership Law, Ethics

Selected Career Highlights

Consultant to the World Bank’s Chinese University Development Project
Advisory Group, American Law Institute's Restatement (Third) of the Law of Agency
Member, California State Senate's Blue Ribbon Task Force on Shareholder Litigation

More Career Highlights...

Author of Hillman on Lawyer Mobility
Author of Law Firm Breakups: The Law and Ethics of Grabbing and Leaving
Co-author, with Cox and Langevoort, of Securities Regulation: Cases and Materials
Co-author, with Wiedner and Vestal, of The Revised Uniform Partnership Act

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Selected Publications

HILLMAN ON LAWYER MOBILITY: THE LAW AND ETHICS OF PARTNER WITHDRAWALS AND LAW FIRM BREAKUPS, (Aspen, 2d ed. 1998; Little Brown, 1st ed. 1994) (with annual supplements).
HILLMAN ON LAWYER MOBILITY: THE LAW AND ETHICS OF PARTNER WITHDRAWALS AND LAW FIRM BREAKUPS, (Chinese edition, 2004).
THE REVISED UNIFORM PARTNERSHIP ACT, West) (with Allan Vestal and Donald Weidner) (1998 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 editions).
GENERAL AND LIMITED LIABILITY PARTNERSHIPS UNDER THE REVISED UNIFORM PARTNERSHIP ACT, (West 1996) (with Allan Vestal and Donald Weidner).

More Publications...

CALIFORNIA SUPPLEMENT, GENERAL AND LIMITED LIABILITY PARTNERSHIPS UNDER THE REVISED UNIFORM PARTNERSHIP ACT, (West 1997) (with Allan Vestal and Donald Weidner).
LAW FIRM BREAKUPS: THE LAW AND ETHICS OF GRABBING AND LEAVING, (Little, Brown & Co. 1990) (with annual supplements).
SECURITIES REGULATION: CASES AND MATERIALS, Aspen, 4th ed. 2004; 3d ed. 2001; 2d ed. 1997; 1st ed. 1991) (with James Cox and Donald Langevoort) (with teacher’s manuals and annual supplements).
SECURITIES REGULATION: SELECTED STATUTES, RULES AND FORMS, (Aspen 2005) (with James Cox and Donald Langevoort).
Ties that Bind and Restraints on Lawyer Competition: Restrictive Covenants as Conditions to Payments of Retirement Benefits, in progress.
Law, Culture and the Lore of Partnership: Of Entrepreneurs, Accountability, and the Evolving Status of Partners, forthcoming in the WAKE FOREST LAW REVIEW.
Law, Corporate Law and Private Ordering within Closely-Held Business Associations, forthcoming in the ILLINOIS LAW REVIEW.
Organizational Choices of Professional Service Firms: An Empirical Study, 58 THE BUSINESS LAWYER 1387 (August, 2003)).
The Property Wars of Law Firms: Of Client Lists, Trade Secrets, and the Fiduciary Duties of Law Partners, 30 FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 767 (2003).
Law Firms as Revolving Doors: The Hidden Costs of Lawyer Mobility, 91 KENTUCKY LAW JOURNAL 299 (2002-03)).
Professional Partnerships, Competition, and the Evolution of Firm Culture: The Case of Law Firms, 26 JOURNAL OF CORP. LAW 1061 (2001).
Business Partners as Fiduciaries: Reflections on the Limitations of Theory, 22 CARDOZO L. REV. 51 (2000).
Basic Principles of U.S. Securities Laws, in Collection of Essays and Articles from the Training Workshop of the Standardization and Development of Securities Markets (Shanghai Joint Publishing Co. 2000).
The Impact of Partnership Law on the Legal Profession, 67 FORD. L. REV. 393 (1998).
Loyalty in the Firm: A Statement of General Principles Applicable to Partners Withdrawing from Law Firms, 55 WASH & LEE L. REV. 997 (1998).
Limited Liability in Historical Perspective, 54 WASH. & LEE L. REV. 613 (1997).
New Forms and New Balances: Managing the External Relations of the Unincorporated Firm, 54 WASH & LEE L. REV. 615 (1997) (symposium introduction).
Terminating Law Partners Can Be a Risky Venture, NAT’L L. J., Nov. 10, 1997, at D1.
RUPA and Former Partners: Cutting the Gordian Knot with Continuing Partnership Entities, 58 LAW AND CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS 7 (1995).
The Law Firm as Jurassic Park: Comments on Howard v. Babcock, 27 U.C.DAVIS L. REV. 533 (1994).
Cross-Border Investment, Conflict of Laws, and the Privatization of Securities Law, 55 LAW AND CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS 331 (1992).
Limited Liability and the Externalization of Risk: A Comment on the Death of Partnership, 70 WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY LAW QUARTERLY 477 (1992).
The Truth about Law Firm Divorces, 17 LITIGATION 26 (Spring, 1991) (with Jacob Stein).
Law Firms and their Partners: The Law and Ethics of Grabbing and Leaving, 67
Private Ordering Within Partnerships, 41 UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI LAW REVIEW 425 (1987).
China Trade and Investment, in CURRENT LEGAL ASPECTS OF DOING BUSINESS IN THE PACIFIC BASIN 155 (American Bar Association 1987) (with Sherrill Babcock).
Bringing Managers to Book, 19 U.C. DAVIS LAW REVIEW 253 (1986).
Indissoluble Partnerships, 37 UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA LAW REVIEW 691 (1985).
Providing Effective Legal Representation in International Business Transactions, 19 THE INTERNATIONAL LAWYER 3 (1985).
Power Shared and Power Denied: A Look at Participatory Rights in the Management of General Partnerships, 1984 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LAW REVIEW 865.
Misconduct as a Basis for Excluding or Expelling a Partner: Effecting Commercial Divorce and Securing Custody of the Business, 78 NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 527 (1983).
The Dissatisfied Participant in the Solvent Business Venture: A Consideration of the Relative Permanence of Partnerships and Close Corporations, 67 MINNESOTA LAW REVIEW 1 (1982).
Defined Contribution Plans after ERISA, 1977 MAJOR TAX PLANNING 527.
The Unseen Revolution: How Pension Fund Socialism Came to America, 50 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW 593 (1977) (book review).
The Determination Letter Under ERISA, THE PRACTICAL LAWYER (December, 1976).

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