About me
Mary Jo Heston is a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Western District of Washington. Prior to her appointment she was a shareholder in the Seattle and Portland Offices of Lane Powell PC where her practice involved commercial litigation and transactional matters with an emphasis on business reorganizations, international insolvency and the acquisition of troubled businesses and assets. Between 1988 and 1993 Ms. Heston served as the first Region 18 United States Trustee, overseeing bankruptcy cases and fiduciaries in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, and Montana. She also is a former law clerk to a federal district court judge and a bankruptcy judge and a former estate administrator of the federal bankruptcy court. Ms. Heston has taught bankruptcy courses for over twenty-five years at both Seattle University School of Law. She is a 2001 Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and an active participant in both professional organizations and community service organizations and currently serves or has served in leadership positions for the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges (NCBJ), the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees (NABT) International Committee, National Association of Equity Receivers’ International Committee (NAFER), INSOL International, the Washington State Bar Association - Debtor Creditor Section, the Turnaround Management Association (TMA). Judge Heston is a frequent international, national, and regional speaker and author on topics including international insolvency issues, creditors’ rights issues, and commercial and consumer insolvency issues. Recently Judge Heston’s professional activities have focused on cross border insolvency and international mediation issues and her community service efforts have focused on military and veterans’ issues working on projects through the Pro Bono Committee of ABI’s Veterans and Servicemembers Task Force.
