It was only about a mile walk along Atlantic Boulevard that took Rob Heekin Jr. to Monterrey, Calif., and then Hawaii, where he compiled a Korean dictionary, whose title is “HIRT” for short.
It stood for “Heekin’s Integrated Research Tables for Sino-Korean.”
It wasn’t a path he expected to take, but it was one that brought him back to Jacksonville and returned him to the University of Florida for his undergraduate and law degrees.
Heekin, 42, now is a partner in the Thames Markey & Heekin firm in the Bank of America Tower Downtown.
Heekin is a hometown guy with a big family — the Heekins and the MacNamaras, big Catholic families with ties throughout the Diocese of St. Augustine as well as the legal, medical and teaching fields.
Robert A. Heekin Jr. is the oldest of six children as well as the nearly three dozen cousins on both sides. His dad is one of nine children; his mother, one of seven.
Like many Heekins, he attended Florida, but 3 1/2 years in, he was invited home to rethink his approach to school or to join the military.
Having experienced years of freedom in college, and realizing being home under his mother’s supervision would be “challenging,” he chose the military.
Living in St. Nicholas along Atlantic Boulevard, Heekin took “a good stretch of the legs” and hiked his way to the recruiting offices in Midtown Centre. He chose the U.S. Army, whose recruiter was taking a smoke outside that day.
Heekin tested for serving in the intelligence field, specializing in linguistics, and was assigned Korean. He did so well that he crafted the HIRT handbook, which is a dictionary still in use. His 52-week language immersion in Monterrey was followed by 21/2 years in Hawaii.
“The Army does a phenomenal job of testing and pushing you toward an area you’ll be successful in,” he said.
Returning to the University of Florida after four years in the Army, he completed his undergraduate degree in business administration and then found himself behind his younger brother David at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.
Law runs in the family.
Heekin’s father, Robert Heekin Sr., is a lawyer. So is his brother David. Brother Thomas, who was born when Rob Heekin Jr. was a senior at Bishop Kenny High School, is completing his law degree at Florida.
Brother Jack works with David at Landmark Title. Sister Julia is a clinical oncologist in Tampa and married to a lawyer. Sister Mary Lynn teaches at St. Paul Catholic School in Jacksonville Beach.
Rob Heekin earned his law degree in 2003. After that, he was corporate counsel for a national development company and then joined Heekin, Malin & Wentzel, where his uncle Geoffrey is a partner. He specialized in land use and real property litigation.
Heekin also served as a member of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum’s transition team.
He joined the firm in 2007 and was made partner in 2011.
When he joined, the firm was seeking a civil and state court litigator with five years of experience. Then the economy presented unanticipated opportunities.
“I don’t think any of us in October 2007 saw the depths and length of the Great Recession,” Heekin said.
The firm has represented a number of debtors during the economic downtown, including serving as Amelia Island Plantation’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy counsel. The firm also has represented hundreds of debtors filing for relief under Chapter 7 as well as Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy code.
Bankruptcy filings peaked in the Middle District of Florida in 2010, although Heekin said there continues to be volatility.
“Even in a good economy, people are going to stumble,” he said.
The firm’s practice areas include litigation, bankruptcy, real estate and intellectual property law.
Heekin didn’t foresee himself practicing bankruptcy law, but not only did he do so, he was elected by his professional peers to serve as the 2014-15 president of the Jacksonville Bankruptcy Bar Association. The group comprises 100-110 core members in business and consumer bankruptcy law.
Heekin and his wife, Elizabeth, are both from Jacksonville but met at the University of Florida. Their mothers served together on the Diocesan Advisory Board of Education. His mom, having met Elizabeth, asked Rob if they had run into each other at school. Heekin said with the tens of thousands of students there, if he hadn’t done so by now, he doubted he would.
He was wrong. He was in law school, she was in graduate school. They took the same class; she sat in front of him. “What are the odds?” he asked.
Now married 11 years, they have four children: two boys, Robert A. “Tripp” Heekin III, 9, and Sean Patrick, 4, and two girls, Mary Kate, 7, and Louisa Elizabeth, 2.
Tripp is ready to continue another Heekin tradition — Boy Scouting. At least 25 Heekins, starting with Rob’s grandfather and great uncle, have attained Eagle Scout status.
In fact, Rob Heekin and his three brothers weren’t allowed to earn their driver licenses until they became Eagle Scouts.
Rob’s son looks forward to being among the fourth generation of Heekin scouts and joining the troop led by his grandfather.
Heekin’s other major passion is the Florida Gators. His office is decked out in Gator colors and keepsakes; he has season tickets to Gator football; and he also catches as much basketball and baseball as he can.
Back in Monterrey and Honolulu, during the “Spurrier days” when Coach Steve Spurrier led the Gators, Heekin made a close-knit group of friends who tolerated his Saturday practice.
“I would wake up at 6 a.m. to watch a Florida football game,” he said.
Those friends still visit.
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