Legal News

Law Blog Obituary: Quinn Emanuel?s George Hedges

By Ashby Jones

If you only have time to read obituaries on one person today, LB Readers, we can say with no small amount of confidence that it should be of George Hedges. Hedges, a name partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, died earlier this month of melanoma. He was 57. Click here for the LAT’s obituary from earlier this month; here for the NYT’s from today.

For starters, Hedges (pictured, second from right) had a star-studded legal practice. He represented wide swaths of the entertainment industry out in LA; clients included Richard Gere, Mel Gibson, Steve Martin, and the estate of Elvis Presley.

Hedges (Penn, USC Law) also represented director David Lynch, winning a $6.5-million judgment against the French company CiBy 2000, one of the largest “pay or play” judgments ever. Pay or play means that the star or director must be paid even if a film is never released. He also represented the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and Fox in various trademark disputes.

But it was a passion for classical studies and archeology that makes accounts of his life so fascinating. In the 1990s, he organized expeditions to the Middle East to trace the trail of frankincense and myrrh, commodities that date to 2000 B.C. The expeditions led to the discovery of what was believed to be the lost city of Ubar, below the sands in the Dhofar region of southern Oman. Since then, some doubt has since been raised over what the group found was, in fact, Ubar.

"What is perhaps most remarkable," Hedges said in 1997, "is that in this day and age, a region that held great significance and fascination for ancient people in as far-flung places as Rome, Greece and Persia is only now revealing itself."

That said, Hedges often said that his proudest moments occurred during his 20-year pro bono effort to overturn the death sentence of Adam Miranda, who was convicted of two murders.

Hedges successfully argued that the prosecution had withheld another man’s confession to one of the murders. Last May, the California Supreme Court agreed, and Miranda’s death sentence was changed to life in prison.

Asked whether her husband was prouder of his victory in the death penalty case or of his archeological discoveries, Hedges’ wife told the NYT: "One was an intellectual adventure unveiling history, but saving a life was much more important."

Photo: Quinn Emanuel

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 31, 2009 (boomark / email).