PRACTICE AREAS

Corporate Law

Science and Technology

Judith S. Heeter has served since 1991 as Director of Business Affairs and Licensing for the Major League Baseball Players Association, where she has primary responsibility for the protection and exploitation of marketing and licensing rights for all professional baseball players in the National and American Leagues. Other sports related clients have included the National Hockey League Players Association, the Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders Association, the Chicago Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association and Toronto Rock Indoor Lacrosse, Inc.

Ms. Heeter has more than 20 years of direct involvement in the legal and business aspects of intellectual property, licensing and litigation matters. Her significant experience includes the planning and structuring of business opportunities involving licensing, franchising and distributorships, negotiation and drafting of attendant legal documents, and litigation arising from intellectual property rights and licensing relationships.

Before joining the firm, Ms. Heeter was a senior attorney for Hallmark Cards Incorporated, where her responsibilities included serving as general counsel to Hallmark's licensing division, Hallmark Properties. Ms. Heeter regularly counseled Hallmark executives in the structuring and maintenance of operations to protect and exploit valuable intellectual property rights throughout the world, and handled copyright and trademark litigation and related matters arising under the antitrust laws.

DISTINCTIONS

Honored as a "Women Who Mean Business" by the Kansas City Business Journal: 2007

Listed in The Best Lawyers in America for Sports Law: 2008-2009

Kansas City Museum Board of Trustees, Chairman

Friends of Art Guild, President

Westport Allen Center, Direcotr and Vice President

Young Audiences, Inc., Director

Junior League 75th Anniversary Endowment Fund, Chairman

Kansas City Zoo Learning Fund, Chairman

Mid-America Assistance Coalition, Director

The Base Ball, Co-Chairman

The Midwest Innocence Project, Director

Village Presbyterian Church Endowment Trust, Director and Vice Chair

COMMUNITY AND BAR INVOLVEMENT

American Bar Association Copyright and Trademark Law Section

Sports Lawyers Association

Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association Intellectual Property Committee

Lawyers Association of Kansas City Director (1984-86)

Association of Women Lawyers of Kansas City

Vice President (1978)

Treasurer (1980)

The Missouri Bar

PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS

Licensing and Sports Law

Professional CLE programs and industry meetings

EDUCATION

J.D., with highest distinction, University of Missouri, 1976, Phi Beta Kappa; Mortar Board; Law Review, 1975-76; Editor-in-Chief, The Urban Lawyer, 1975-1976

B.A., English, summa cum laude, University of Missouri, 1971

BAR ADMISSIONS

Missouri, 1976