ATTORNEYS

John Heil

- Partner

John focuses his practice on complex civil rights litigation, commercial litigation and the defense of catastrophic tort actions. John also defends professional liability actions directed at attorneys, federal "whistle-blower" suits brought against publicly funded medical institutions, and personal injury claims brought against individuals and their employers.

John's civil rights practice involves the defense of federal Section 1983 actions and associated state law claims leveled against members of the law enforcement community and other public officials. In this context John routinely defends allegations of false arrest, excessive force, deliberate indifference and denial of due process of law. John is also heavily involved in commercial litigation, including allegations of breach of contract, fraud and deceptive business practices, on behalf of large and small businesses and their employees throughout the state.

John joined Heyl Royster in 2007 after serving for eleven years as a trial attorney with the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. During his years as a prosecutor, he prepared and argued hundreds of motions, over one hundred bench trials and eighteen felony jury trials. As a member of the Civil Actions Bureau, John defended Cook County, Illinois, its elected officials and employees in state and federal court. John was part of the team charged with defending the elected State's Attorney and his Assistants in several high profile federal civil rights actions in the Northern District of Illinois. He received his J.D., with Honors, from Chicago-Kent College of Law and a B.S., magna cum laude, from Bradley University.