Judge Peckham had been appointed to the California
State bench in 1959 and became a Judge
of the U.S. District Court for Northern District
of California in 1966; he was Chief Judge from
1976 through 1988. Because she worked for the
Chief, Susan got to know pretty much everyone
in the courthouse. And because she got along, because
she excelled, it paid off. Shortly after Susan
began private practice, maybe a few minutes after
she had begun, Susan and a client she had just
met had to go to Court. As they walked through
the halls and into a courtroom, Susan was warmly
greeted by name by judges and court personnel.
It made a pretty nice impression on the client.
Dr. Adler would have predicted that middle-child
Susan would have diminished need for achievement.
Need or not, Susan achieved mightily. That
first job turned out to be her last. In 1978, John
Keker and his law school classmate Bill Brockett
formed their own firm, Keker & Brockett. In
1979, they hired Bob Van Nest as a new associate.
Susan was hired in 1985. The firm’s name eventually
became Keker, Van Nest & Peters. John Keker
was inducted as a Fellow of the College in 1982.
Bob Van Vest in 2006. Elliot Peters in 2011. And
Susan Harriman in 2010.
There were ten lawyers in the firm when Susan
arrived; it has grown to over one hundred. Susan
now serves as General Counsel to the firm. Her
practice includes Contracts, Commercial Litigation,
Intellectual Property, Professional Liability,
Securities, and White-Collar Criminal.
Susan has first-chaired an incredible variety of cases to successful
conclusion. She represented six of the seven-member board of a
large charitable foundation when the seventh member, the wife of
the founder, sought to remove the others so she could take control;
the founder’s wife was removed instead. The original programmer
of the John Madden Football video games alleged that he was owed
royalties on all Madden Football video games sold over a twentytwo
year period because they were derivatives of his work; the programmer
got nothing. Televisa, a Mexican multimedia conglomerate
which supplied popular Spanish language programs, attempted
to terminate its long-term exclusive licensing agreement with Univision
and sought more than $100 million in damages; Univision
sought declaratory judgment to prevent Televisa from broadcasting
the licensed programs over the Internet; complete victory for Susan’s
client Univision. Susan won a $5.5 million jury verdict against
Chevron for wrongfully terminating and retaliating against a female
petroleum engineer. Susan successfully defended an individual in
an ERISA when her deceased husband’s employer sought to recoup
$10 million in insurance proceeds paid to her client.
When not working, her website proclaims, Susan enjoys walking
her dog Moxie (of course her dog would be named Moxie), rowing
on San Francisco Bay, kayaking on Narragansett Bay, and playing
pickleball (whatever that is).
Pickleball. I had to look it up. In 1965 Joel Pritchard, a Washington
Congressman, and a friend looked for badminton equipment
and could not find a full set of rackets. They improvised and started
playing with ping-pong paddles and a perforated plastic ball. There
is no explanation for why they named it pickleball but it is now
the official game of Washington and apparently is becoming highly
popular with people who play a racket or two short of a full set.
19 JOURNAL