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MWL Member Spotlight: Beverly Jones Heydinger By: Kathie Battle Sayles Kathie Battle Sayles is the Attorney Leader of the Campaign for Legal Aid of Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, Inc. (SMRLS), as well as the coordinator of SMRLS’ pro bono, annual Senior Citizens Legal Fair. As an outstanding volunteer, as a practicing attorney and as an administrative law judge, Beverly Jones Heydinger has served the legal profession’s highest aspiration, Equal Justice Before the Law for all persons, with great distinction, for the past 30 years. Judge Heydinger is a 1972 graduate of Carleton College and a 1977 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. She served in the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General from 1978 to 1998, including several years as a manager and as a Deputy Attorney General. She has served as an Administrative Law Judge in the Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings since 1999. Throughout her career as an attorney and judge, Beverly’s volunteer activities have centered on helping low–income persons access equal justice so that they have a fair opportunity to benefit from the laws that help protect them. From 2003 to 2005, Beverly served on the Minnesota Supreme Court’s Legal Services Planning Commission (Commission), and chaired its Client Needs Subcommittee. She states that this work was particularly gratifying because “ it helped keep clients, not service providers, at the center of the Commission’s discussion and statewide planning.” Based on the work of Beverly’s subcommittee, the Commission’s final report described the many barriers that persons faced in effectively accessing justice, including barriers of language, domestic violence, remote location, ethnic background, age, minority status, and disability. Beverly was subsequently appointed to the Supreme Court Legal Services Planning Committee, formed in 2006, and was also appointed to the Supreme Court’s Legal Services Advisory Committees which is responsible for distributing grants to a wide-range of organizations that address the civil legal needs of low-income persons. The Supreme Court Commission’s 2005 statewide report calls for “ Equity of Access” for all low-income Minnesotans. To that end, Bev chairs the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) Legal Assistance to the Disadvantaged (LAD) Subcommittee on client needs and barriers. Under her leadership, the LAD Committee has issued an RFP for a statewide in-depth study to determine if there are groups of eligible clients who are disproportionately unable to access civil legal services, with the goal of insuring that Minnesota’s staffed and pro bono programs seek and share “best practices” to overcome these obstacles. The hundreds of hours that Beverly has contributed to these and other Minnesota Supreme Court Committees (including civil commitment and child support), her volunteer work on other MSBA committees, and her community activities with the Campaign for Legal Aid, and as a Board member at Health Start and Hallie Q, Brown Community Center, all have the common purpose of empowering low-income persons to gain greater access to critical community services. Beverly remarks that she routinely sees in her attorney and judgeship roles that “disadvantaged persons are often unable to understand the full range of their rights and options when they are unrepresented”. This combined with the “daily and emergency struggles that low-income persons face” makes it very difficult for them “to negotiate on basic needs such as access to health care, shelter, or rights related to their employment or public assistance.” Beverly has found that her volunteer work has “broadened her familiarity and relationships with lawyers across a much broader spectrum than work alone could do.” As a result she “feels greater commitment to the profession and more devoted to protecting the rights of all.” Beverly also served as a Board Member of MWL from 1997 to 1999, and co-chaired the Rosalie Wahl Lecture in 1996. Along with her husband Rick and their two children for many years she led her church’s holiday gift drive to help very low-income families living in inner city St. Paul. She “strongly encourages” other lawyers to volunteer on “projects that matter to you.“ We in legal aid are honored and
thrilled to spotlight Beverly Jones Heydinger for the many hours she has
committed these past 30 years to make the dream of Equal Justice Under Law a
reality for so many families. Her wonderful service as a lawyer, a judge and a
volunteer, benefits the broader community and sets a tremendous example for the
legal profession. All of us in Minnesota Women Lawyers can celebrate her
commitment. Back to Member Spotlight Main Page
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