Biography
Jeanne Heaton serves as the director of continuing legal education (CLE) for the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA), where she oversees the live and online CLE programming. Jeanne managed the transition to add online CLE in 2007, which is now the delivery format preferred by members. She works with the Committee on CLE, the Solo Small Firm Practice Conference Planning Committee, the Minority Bar CLE Planning Committee, more than 50 volunteer member attorney CLE coordinators, and more than 650 volunteer faculty members annually. Jeanne works with CLE committee and staff to plan and provide annual training programs for the volunteer faculty in addition to curating a wealth of faculty web resources. Jeanne and her CLE team of six administer more than 75 annual live onsite programs, 50 annual webinars/webcasts, and a catalog of more than 400 hours of CLE content. Additionally, she oversees the administration of the short Quick Takes for Your Practice video series and serves as a senior management team member of the ISBA Communications group. She liaisons to other organizations in the state to coordinate CLE initiatives, including the IL Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, the ARDC, the IL Judges Association, and numerous minority bar associations.
Jeanne is also active in the International Association for CLE Professionals, ACLEA, serving as president in 2017-18, after serving as president elect, secretary, treasurer, and director on the ACLEA Executive Committee. She currently serves as co-chair of the State and Provincial Bar SIG. Previously she served as MCLE Committee co-chair, Executive Leadership SIG co-chair, and as a member of two conference planning committees.
Before entering the world of CLE, Jeanne worked as an environmental lawyer. She earned her JD degree from Indiana University Maurer School of Law-Bloomington and her undergraduate degree in Political Science, Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Illinois-Champaign. She enjoys traveling and spending time with her four children and five grandchildren.