Hon. Carol E. Heckman (Ret.)

With more than 40 years of experience as a trial lawyer and judge, Judge Heckman (Ret.) has an active practice as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association and conducts arbitrations in most major metropolitan areas with a particular concentration in New York City.  In addition to arbitrations and mediations, Judge Heckman was selected as a Fellow to the College of Commercial Arbitrators, an exclusive group of commercial arbitrators representing the best in the United States, where she serves as co-chair of their Education Committee. In her arbitration practice, she is widely regarded as efficient, open-minded, and fair.  She is chair of the firm's alternative dispute resolution team. 

Judge Heckman also handles litigation counseling and trial work for American Indian tribes and a group of business clients, as further detailed below. 

Judge Heckman served as a Magistrate Judge in the Western District of New York for eight years where she was selected to sit on the Federal Judicial Conference’s Education Committee for Magistrate Judges and served as an Officer in the Federal Magistrate Judges Association.  She has also served as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Buffalo, New York, and as a law clerk for Hon. John T. Curtin, former Chief Judge of the Western District of New York.

She has significant training and experience as a mediator and has trained federal judges in mediation techniques. She is admitted to the American Arbitration Association's panel of commercial and employment arbitrators and to their panel of mediators. She is also a certified mediator for the Western District of New York.  Successful mediations include the full range of federal court cases, including class actions, high stakes business disputes, employment disputes of all kinds, environmental claims, products liability and other tort claims, securities claims, patent claims, and §1983 claims.

Judge Heckman's arbitration experience includes all aspects of executive compensation, complex and high-dollar commercial disputes, employment litigation, FLSA, non-compete agreements, construction cases, ERISA liability, international cases involving contractual matters, contract claims, mass claims, and process arbitrator assignments under the AAA's Mass Arbitration Supplementary Rules effective August 1, 2023. 

Her private client representation includes advising Fortune 500 companies and closely held companies on major litigation strategy in commercial cases, particularly in the areas of health care, false claims act, federal court procedure and strategy, and mediation preparation and strategy.  She frequently serves as valued local counsel for cases in the Western District of New York.

In addition to Judge Heckman's arbitration experience, she is also Co-Leader of the firm's Indian Law practice team and advises select business clients on trial and appellate issues. Her experience representing tribal governments spans state, federal, and tribal courts as well as arbitrations, and has involved taxation, land claims, sovereign immunity, tribally-owned businesses, gaming compacts, IGRA, the Nonintercourse Act, insurance, the Indian Child Welfare Act, tribal civil jurisdiction, land claims, constitutional claims, tort claims, treaty issues and contract claims.

Representative matters in Indian Law include:

For more information on the firm's Indian law practice team click here. 

Judge Heckman is a frequent speaker and panelist at bar association meetings and at CLE programs across the state. She also has presented at AAA trainings and webinars sponsored by the College of Commercial Arbitrators.