By Steve Thorpe
Legal News
Judge Catherine Heise can’t remember a time when she didn’t have a love of the law.
“I always had it,” she says. “I remember when I first started at Detroit College of Law, I walked into the building and thought ‘this is where I’m supposed to be.’ I love the law. I love what it stands for and what it does for people.“
Gov. Rick Snyder recently appointed four new judges to the Wayne County Circuit Court.
In addition to Heise, who lives in Plymouth, the other new jurists are Thomas C. Cameron of Northville Township, Alexis A. Glendening of Grosse Pointe Farms and Edward J. Joseph of Grosse Pointe Park.
Heise was an attorney for Amerisure Insurance Co. and oversaw litigation in state and federal trial courts. Before joining Amerisure, she was a partner at Van Belkum & Felty/ Catherine L. Heise PC in downtown Plymouth. Heise earned her law degree from the Detroit College of Law. She fills the vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Linda V. Parker.
In 2005, she was appointed by Attorney General Mike Cox to provide assistance in the Child Support Division. She had responsibility for arraignments, preliminary examinations, pretrials, sentencings and violation of probation hearings in the district and circuit courts of Oakland and Washtenaw.
Also, from 2003 - 2005, Heise was a councilwoman in the city of Dearborn Heights, where she reviewed and approved annual budgets, helped develop new libraries, and focused on environmental issues, including leading
opposition to deep injection wells in Romulus.
Heise has deep roots in the community, and happy memories of growing up in the area.
“I was born in Dearborn and both of my parents were from Dearborn, so we go back several generations there,” she says. “I grew up in the idyllic ‘60s, with many kids in the neighborhood and school within walking distance. It was a normal, happy childhood.”
Her father was determined that his children have as many opportunities as possible and saw education as the key to opening those doors.
“My dad was an only child and lost his father very young,” she says. “He saw the struggles his mother had, because women didn’t usually have educations back then, and he insisted that my sister and I go to college so we would be self-sufficient.”
From the beginning of her schooling, she had an affinity for history and noticed that lawyers played a big role in the founding of the United States.
“I always thought about the law because of my fascination with Lincoln, Jefferson and Adams,” she says. “We have this wonderful American system and it was, to a large extent, put together by lawyers. I know Ben Franklin and George Washington weren’t lawyers, but Madison and the rest, they were all lawyers. For me, it was a natural progression.”
Heise also was aware that it was John Adams, not Abigail, who attended law school. She is grateful to the women who went before her and blazed the long, hard trail to law careers for women.
“I was one degree removed from Justice Mary Coleman, Justice Dorothy Comstock Riley and Justice Patricia Boyle,” she says. “I heard their stories. Justice Boyle graduated at the top of her class and couldn’t find a job. Dorothy Comstock Riley was so petite that no one took her seriously. My success is a direct result of the challenges they faced and overcame and I’m grateful to them. What great women they were. I consider them to be my three guardian angels.”
She’s also very aware of the mentors along the way who pulled her up instead of holding her down.
“I’ve been very fortunate over the years to have lawyers and clients who gave me a break, who gave me that first start, who let me try that first case,” she says. “They’re too numerous to mention, but they’re always in my heart.”
Heise think there’s a chance that the next generation of women lawyers may be living in her own house.
“Both my teenage daughters have the potential to be excellent lawyers,” she says. “Katie can argue a point until the cows come home. And Claire, the baby … when she was 10-years-old and wanted something she would come to me and my husband and say ‘I have a question and a follow-up.’ I would think, ‘Oh, you are good.’ “
There was a time when Heise wasn’t sure whether her future was in a courtroom or on stage and in a recording studio. Music, particularly the harp, was a passion that competed with history and the law.
“I still play the harp, but not as much as I’d like to,” she says. “My greatest love with the harp is doing orchestra work. For a couple years I was the harpist with the Livonia Symphony and I’ve played with the Dearborn Symphony. I had to step aside a couple years ago, but I still love classical music.”
She doesn’t believe her dual interests are that unusual in the legal field.
“Lawyers are passionate people and I’ve often found that they’re often multi-talented,” she says. “Doug Peters is a painter. A lot of them are musicians. The lawyers I know tend to have multiple gifts.”
Heise knows that the voters will decide if she remains on the bench and expresses confidence that she’ll do fine.
“I love my job and I’d like to keep it,” she says. “I have to gain the confidence of the people of Wayne County and I’m going to work very hard to do that. I did serve as a councilwoman in Dearborn Heights from 2003 to 2005.
Campaigns are emotionally harrowing. One thing I do like about running for office is that you have to get out and meet folks. You can learn so much by going up to a stranger and introducing yourself and engaging them in a conversation. That’s what I like about running for office.”
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