I have been a vigorous advocate for employees since 1985. The previous five years I worked in a big law firm and represented employers. I acquired a good sense of how bosses think & feel and how “corporations” act, behave and misbehave . . .

I helped found a group of lawyers dedicated to employee rights. Seven of us started the National Employment Lawyers Association and has grown to over 4,000 lawyers nationwide who represent employees. In addition to a law degree, I have a Masters in Computer Science and I helped found a computer law section of the State Bar Association.

To help lawyers learn how to make employers thirsty to settle cases, I authored a book titled The Balancing Act: Settlement vs. Trial, (Beaver’s Pond Press 2/8/2000).

New books are available directly from Beaver’s Pond Press or used copies are also available on Amazon.com.

I’ve also written a pamplet about my unique practice of ghost-writing letters for employees who don’t want a lawsuit OR who were terminated for office politics or unfairness. It is available from me directly, but only if you represent employees exclusively.

I speak to hundreds of people each year about the how U.S. courts are based on law, not justice – and how they can be nudged toward fairness.

I have written two novels that are not law-related: Strangely Familiar deals with empathy and “thinking backwards” as methods of solving mysteries. It is nearing publication. The Price You Pay deals with the emotional cost of sexual harassment, but it remains unpublished, on the shelf.

Books Published

Heikens, The Balancing Act: Settlement vs. Trial, (Beaver’s Pond Press 2/8/2000), subtitled “You can lead a horse to Water, but … your job is to make him Thirsty”.

Chapters Contributed to books of Others

“Trial Strategy”  Chapter in Tobias, Litigating Wrongful Discharge Cases, Callaghan Co., (1987)

“Race discrimination and jury trials” section in NELA, Employee Rights: Practice and Procedure, Matthew Bender (1991)

Articles Published

“Ending the Tyranny of At-will Employment,” Minnesota Trial Lawyer, Fall 2003

“Improving Settlement Success,” Employee Rights Quarterly 2000

“Evaluating and Proving Emotional Pain.” Inside Employee Rights June 1997

“Settlement Tactics” Inside Employee Rights June 1999

“To Hell and Back” Law and Politics February 1998

“Depression: One Lawyer’s Experience.”  MSBA, Bench & Bar April 1996

Speeches

A partial listing from over 300 speeches to over 45,000 Attorneys, judges, executives and managers about employee rights and obligations:

“Flesh, Hormones & Other Workplace Entanglements. Who should say No?” – Minneapolis, 1987, 1993, 2000

“Settlement Strategies – Through Your Opponent’s Looking Glass” – Vail, 2003

“Shrinking, Inflating and Balancing EXPECTATIONS” – NELA, New Orleans, 2011

“Whistleblowing on Workplace Bullies” – NELA, Minnesota, 2012

“An Ounce of Prevention… Negligence Theories In Employment Law” - Minneapolis, 1996, 2002

“Cross-Examining Expert Economists,” – American Bar Association, San Diego, 1990

“To Contract or Not To Contract,” – MSBA/MTLA, St. Paul, 1986

“Evaluating Emotional Pain and its Translation,”- MTLA, St Cloud, 1997

“You can lead a horse to Water, but … your job is to make him Thirsty.” – PELA-NELA, Monterrey, 1997 Captiva Island 1987, New Orleans 1999, Minneapolis 2006

“Training Fortune 500 Companies on What Is Sexual Harassment and What Must be Done.” – Several cities, several years