Heinen later became Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Legal Secretary of Apple Computer Inc.[3] She was also on the board of BSA Software Alliance from 1996 to 2005.
[4] During this time, Apple began pre-emptively applying for patents to prevent them from being obtained by the company's competition, a tactic Heinen described as "a defensive tool".
[6] Shortly after she left, she retained two criminal defense lawyers, and Apple admitted to irregularities in its handling of executive stock option dating.
[7] On April 24, 2007, the SEC filed a claim against Heinen alleging that she caused Apple to backdate large option grants and altered corporate records to hide the actions.
[10] Apple's former CFO Fred D. Anderson had already reached a $3.5 million settlement with the SEC in 2007, without admitting or denying its allegations regarding the stock-option backdating at the technology company.
[21] Heinen is married to attorney Dennis DeBroeck, a partner in the corporate group at Fenwick & West law firm, which is counsel to Apple Inc.[22]