Rod Heard is a partner in the Chicago office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP. He practices in the firm's Litigation Department and concentrates his practice on commercial, intellectual property, and environmental litigation.
His practice experience includes more than 30 complex business cases which he tried to judgment in courts throughout the United States and in Guam. He represents major national and multinational companies on matters of class actions, injunctions, and appellate proceedings. He has represented such companies as Honeywell International Inc., KONE Inc., Sony Electronics Inc., Hyatt International, Transamerica Inc., Chevron Oil Co., and Biomet Inc. Mr. Heard is seasoned in matters of arbitration, and has participated in domestic and international commercial, securities, and financial arbitrations as an advocate, arbitrator, and expert witness. He is a Distinguished Neutral for the International Institute For Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR) and National Panelist for AAA.
Mr. Heard earned his B.S. in 1968 and his M.S. in 1969, both from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He earned his J.D. from the College of William and Mary in 1973. He continues to serve his alma mater, Northwestern University, as an adjunct professor teaching Dispute Resolution and Trial Advocacy, and sits on the Kellogg School of Management, Dispute Resolution Advisory Board. Mr. Heard was an adjunct professor at DePaul University Law School for 17 years, teaching Dispute Resolution, Commercial Arbitration, and International Arbitration. Presently, he teaches International Business Transactions at Loyola University's School of Law as an adjunct professor. He is also co-author of a book entitled International Commercial Arbitration Advocacy A Practitioner's Guide For American Lawyers,© 2010, published by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.
Mr. Heard belongs to the Chicago International Dispute Resolution Association, and has been a faculty member for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA) every year since 1987. He was one of the 500 Illinois attorneys listed in Who's Who Legal, 2008-2010, and received the distinction as one of the 100 All Stars in Client Service in a BTI Survey of Corporate Counsel. He is a former chair of the Network of Trial Law Firms and is a board member of the Better Government Association, a civic watchdog group.
Mr. Heard is admitted to practice in Illinois; before the U.S. Claims Court; before the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Second, Sixth, Seventh, and Federal Circuits; and before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, where he is a Trial Bar member.