Heidi Doerhoff Vollet

Email: hvollet@cvdl.net

Phone: (573) 635-7977, ext. 112

PRACTICE AREAS: Appellate, Commercial Litigation, Governmental, Civil Rights, Trust and Estate Litigation, Products Liability.

BIOGRAPHY:

Heidi has significant experience representing clients at all levels of state and federal courts and has received an AV Preeminent peer review rating from the Martindale-Hubbell International Law Directory for ethical standards and legal ability. Recent matters that she has handled at CVDL include providing outside counsel advice to a state agency on state constitutional issues, successfully defending the constitutionality of a new law to create a deputy sheriff salary supplementation fund, representing a former Missouri Senator in an election law challenge to a proposed initiative petition to change Missouri's non-partisan court plan, second chairing a federal bench trial in a $15 million commercial fraud case, and defending a nationally recognized law firm sued in connection with an insurance receivership.

Heidi joined CVDL in January 2009 after serving in the Missouri Attorney General's Office as Counsel to the Chief Deputy from 2005 to 2009, where she handled a variety of high profile issues, including defending legislation against constitutional attacks and ballot titles and fiscal notes for initiative petitions, as well as state and federal appeals. Her clients there included the Secretary of State, State Auditor, State Treasurer, and the Life Science Research Board. 

Before working at the Attorney General's Office, Heidi practiced for several years in the Washington, D.C. office of Covington & Burling, where she had active appellate and litigation practices.  She clerked for the Honorable William H. Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States, during the October 2001 term of the United States Supreme Court and for the Honorable John R. Gibson, U.S. Judge for the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, from 2000 to 2001.

In 2007, Heidi was named one of the top up-and-coming lawyers by Missouri Lawyers' Weekly.  She received recognition in 2004 for her pro bono service in successfully representing 55 customers in a public accommodations lawsuit against a national restaurant chain.  In 2003, she was named a Distinguished Recent Graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law.

She has also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia Law School in 2008, where she taught a course on the United States Supreme Court's certiorari practice.   She is active in the Missouri Bar, and has spoken on professionalism and legal writing.  She has been a member of the Young Lawyers Section Council of the Bar since 2005, and currently serves as the Chair-Elect of the Council. During law school, Heidi was a member of the Order of the Coif and served as Lead Articles Editor of the Law Review.

Heidi lives in Jefferson City with her husband Kevin and their children, aged 3 to 10. They are active members of St. Joseph Cathedral parish.  Heidi is a Rotarian, a Commissioner on the Jefferson City Parks and Recreation Commission, and serves on the board of Mid-Missouri Legal Services Corporation, which provides legal aid services in a 10 county-area in central Missouri.

Education:  B.A., University of Notre Dame (1996); J.D., University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law ( 2000).

Bar Admissions: Missouri (2001), District of Columbia (2002), United States Supreme Court, United States Courts of Appeals for the D.C., Third, Sixth, Eighth, and Federal Circuits, and the District Courts for the Western and Eastern Districts of Missouri and the District of Columbia.

Representative Reported Cases - Federal: Fry v. Pliler, 551 U.S. 112 (2007) (amicus brief) (federal habeas); Gonzales v. Raich, 545 U.S. 1 (2005) (on brief) (constitutional law); City of Rancho Palos Verdes v. Abrams, 544 U.S. 113 (2005) (amicus brief) (telecommunications); Government of Rwanda v. Johnson, 409 F.3d 368 (D.C. Cir. 2005) (on brief) (ethics); Jung v. Assoc. of American Medical Colleges, 339 F. Supp. 2d 26 (D.D.C. 2004) (on brief) (antitrust); Prometheus Radio Project v. F.C.C., 373 F.3d 372 (3rd Cir. 2004) (on brief) (administrative law).

State: Jackson County Sports Complex Authority v. State, 226 S.W.3d 156 (Mo. banc 2007) (constitutionality of state legislation); Jackson County v. State, 207 S.W.3d. 608 (Mo. banc 2006) (constitutionality of state legislation); Asher v. Carnahan, 268 S.W.3d 427 (Mo. App. W.D. 2008) (initiative petition); Cures Without Cloning v. Pund , 259 S.W.3d 76 (Mo. App. W.D. 2008) (initiative petition); State ex rel. Nixon v. Childers, 243 S.W.3d 403 (Mo. App. W.D. 2007) (on brief) (property law); Missourians Against Human Cloning v. Carnahan, 190 S.W.3d 451 (Mo. App. W.D. 2006) (on brief) (initiative petition); State v. Fitzpatrick, 193 S.W.3d 280 (Mo. App. W.D.), cert. denied 127 S.Ct. 729 (2006) (criminal).