Miriam Hiser

Tel: 415-345-9234
Email: mhiser@hiserlaw.com

Miriam is a trial lawyer with thirty-six years of experience representing individuals and businesses in commercial litigation and bankruptcy litigation. Most recently she obtained a $1.7 M tax penalty refund from the City of San Francisco following an eight-day trial with co-counsel tax firm, payment of a $450,000 obligation owed to an ex-spouse in bankruptcy court, and payment of a six-figure settlement to a client group in probate court.

Miriam has won both jury and bench trials in state courts and has tried dozens of adversary proceedings in bankruptcy courts in the Northern, Eastern and Central Districts of California. Her appellate advocacy includes arguments to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel of the Ninth Circuit. Her trial work has generated numerous reported opinions and she has lectured on various bankruptcy and commercial topics, including to the San Francisco and Contra Costa Bar Association bankruptcy sections, the 2022 California Bankruptcy Forum, the May 2022 INBLF May litigation forum and to the ABA Customs Law Committee.

Prior to starting her own firm in 1999, Miriam practiced business and bankruptcy litigation as a partner at Marron Reid LLP in San Francisco and complex multi-party litigation as an associate at Bingham (McCutchen, Doyle, Brown & Enersen).

Miriam’s commercial litigation experience includes actions to appoint receivers, contract and other business disputes, products liability and construction defect cases and insurance coverage disputes. Her bankruptcy practice includes representation of creditors in trials of adversary proceedings, cash collateral hearings, motions for adequate protection and motions to lift the automatic stay, plan confirmation hearings, and motions to convert or dismiss.

Miriam has experience in all aspects of complex multi-party litigation including jury trials. She also has represented automobile manufacturers, pesticide and other chemical manufacturers and suppliers against both individual and mass toxic tort claims.

Education

Miriam graduated in 1987 from the University of Texas School of Law with Honors and has been awarded membership in The Littlefield Society at the University. She is also a 1983 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wesleyan University.

Community Involvement

Miriam’s community involvement includes past work with the San Francisco Volunteer Legal Services Program and the AIDS Legal Referral Panel. She volunteered at Glide Memorial Church’s Family, Youth and Childcare program and was an after-school mentor for several years.

Miriam was the 2017 South End Rowing Club Volunteer of the Year and has provided pro bono legal services to the South End for many years. In 2022, Miriam was again awarded the South End Rowing Club Volunteer of the Year award, this time jointly with her colleague Paul DeAngelis.

Open Water Swimming

An open water swimmer and member of the South End Rowing Club, Miriam swam the English Channel on the South End’s first all-female relay team in 2011 and the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim relays in 2012. She completed her first solo crossing of the Straits of Mackinaw in 2017, and swam it again in 2019 and 2021. She swam around the Island of Mackinaw in 2021 and 2022, and has completed four Ultra Marathons, dozens of half-marathons and triathlons and 90 Alcatraz crossings.

Facts

Super Lawyer (2013 to 2023)
President of International Network of Boutique Law Firms (INBLF) Northern California Chapter; Member, INBLF Board of Directors and INBLF Marketing Committee
Member, American Bankruptcy Institute
Member, Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum
Member, San Francisco Provisors
Member, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California Bench-Bar Liaison Committee 2013-2016
Wesleyan Lawyers Association