Cheryl Saniuk-Heinig
A force to be reckoned with, Cheryl A. Saniuk-Heinig has shown up at Dirigo Law Group ready for battle. If there is one thing we know about Cheryl, it is that she refuses to back down.
Her warrior-like spirit comes from a strong pursuit of justice. After Cheryl completed over 200 hours of pro bono services for indigent defendants in Maine within a single semester during law school, she was recognized by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court’s Katahdin Counsel Program. That service didn’t end in law school as Cheryl has been recognized by the Katahdin Counsel every year since joining private practice. She is resourceful and will go the extra mile for any client. A typical example? Cheryl became frustrated when she could not accomplish something for a client because of the way a law was worded. Her solution? She drafted an amendment to fix the ill-worded law, found a Maine legislator to sponsor it, and tirelessly lobbied legislative committees until it reached the Governor’s desk and was signed into law. Cheryl is the real deal. We would describe Cheryl as “badass” if we were allowed to put that on a law firm website. (Yeah. Cheryl does not mess around.) While she will stop at nothing to ensure that her clients receive the care, compassion, and justice they deserve – she will also do everything she can to make sure that they feel respected, cared for, and their concerns heard. She is the perfect combination of down-to-earth, fierce, loyal, and competitive.
Cheryl uses her skills to pursue justice for anyone who has been wronged. In particular, she is an expert in personal injury and complex insurance coverage issues. After working for multiple health and disability insurance companies, she knows how to get insurance adjusters to fork over the coin. (If you haven’t noticed already, her initials spell “CASH” as in “CASH MONEY” as in “back up the Brinks truck” for her clients.) Her insurance industry insight combined with her creative approaches were acknowledged by her second-place prize in the American College of Coverage Counsel’s National Law Student Writing Competition in Insurance Law.
Awards aside, Cheryl has already demonstrated that she is a fighter in the legal field and a brilliant one at that. While attending the University of Maine School of Law, she served as the Executive Editor of the Maine Law Review, a teaching fellow in Contracts and Criminal Law, and a research assistant. In her spare time, she served on the executive board of five student organizations and worked in the Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic representing low-income clients in Maine District Court. After graduating in the top of her class, Cheryl served as a law clerk for the Honorable Sr. Associate Justice Andrew M. Mead of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
In addition to a regular curriculum in law school, Cheryl, true to character, did more and graduated with a certificate in information privacy law. She has not only published articles and materials on privacy principles and national data breach laws, but is a certified privacy professional in data privacy laws, regulations, and the legal requirements for handling and transferring data in both the United States and Europe. Based on her legal and professional expertise in the area, Governor Mills appointed her to Maine’s Right to Know Advisory Committee—an advisory council formed to review and protect the integrity of Maine’s Freedom of Access Laws. Basically, Cheryl a/k/a CASH MONEY, knows about a lot of things that are Greek to the rest of us.
Cheryl’s practice focuses on criminal defense, personal injury and contract litigation, and other general civil litigation matters. Cheryl lives with her partner in Rockland. She spends most of her free time either outdoors, lamenting the closing of Café Miranda, or being the office’s favorite ice hockey fanatic (Go Bruins!).