Minnesota Lawyer articles from April 2007

Minnesota Lawyer archives from April 2007

Minnesota Court of Appeals OKs rarely used anonymous jury.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Michelle Lore A District Court judge properly employed a rarely used anonymous jury in a murder case, the Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled. The only other reported cases in Minnesota involving anonymous juries all revolve...

Minn. Supreme Court rules ex-secretary's statements about firm privileged.(Mahoney & Hagberg)(Tracy Newgard)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A Minneapolis law firm may not sue its former secretary for statements the secretary made in an affidavit provided in a separate lawsuit, the Supreme Court has ruled. The statements were relevant to the...

Registered e-mail an effective method for verification.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Michelle Lore Anyone who says advertising at trade shows doesn't pay off should talk to Hennepin County Bar Association executive director Larry Buxbaum. The HCBA recently hooked up with a registered e-mail service, RPost, at...

Changing careers.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Barbara L. Jones You can frame your law school diploma under glass and you can laminate your law license, but you can't protect your career against change, even if you want to. And many lawyers don't want to. It seems these...

'Dangerous' Defendants.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Dan Heilman Part of the price of being a defense attorney is that, right or wrong, you'll often be perceived as the person trying to get the bad guy off the hook. The challenges of building a defense can be made that much more...

Commentary: Making a federal case out of a $225 'coronation' in Minn.(attorney Rachel Paulose accused of wasting public money)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Mark A. Cohen For the extravagance of spending less than the price of an iPod on the ceremony marking her investiture as the state's top federal prosecutor, U.S. attorney Rachel Paulose recently found herself on a TV news report...

Minnesota Lawyer honors 20 as Up & Coming Attorneys.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Michael Krieger Minnesota Lawyer is proud to announce the recipients of this year's Up & Coming Attorneys award. The honor is reserved for attorneys with significant records of accomplishment during their first 10 years of...

Trial lawyers face issue of aging jurors.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Dick Dahl Is a graying America producing less reliable juries that make incorrect decisions based on older jurors' impaired memories? A study at the University of Virginia, published in a recent issue of the Psychonomic...

Hennepin County Bar Benefit sets record for contributions.(Thomas S. Fraser, Thomas L. Johnson and Blake Shepard win awards)(Hennepin County Bar Foundation)(Brief article)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter For the ninth consecutive year, a record was set for gifts contributed to serve the needs of the underprivileged during the Hennepin County Bar Foundation's annual Bar Benefit last month. More...

Minnesota Bar Buzz: April 2, 2007.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Tilt-A-Whirl part of legislative roundup Welcome to Minnesota, official state of the loon, honeycrisp apple -- and Tilt-A-Whirl? Faribault Rep. Patti Fritz, proving once again that all...

Fate of real property improvement bill in Minnesota unclear.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The fate of a bill to clean up what some call a construction mess is unclear. The bill would extend by two years the statute of repose for contribution and indemnity claims in cases involving...

Whistleblower measure approved by U.S. House.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff The House of Representatives has approved new legislation aimed at protecting government whistleblowers. The Whistleblower Enhancement Act would allow many federal employees the same rights afforded...

IRS announces new audit approach.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff The Internal Revenue Service has announced a new audit approach that auditors can use to close taxpayer cases after one meeting. The method, called Examination Technique Code 4, will consider a matter...

Importance of collecting the money that clients owe you.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Edward Poll One of my first columns was on the importance of collecting the money that clients owe you. This topic is so important that, as a new fiscal year begins for many firms, it is worth revisiting. If the client pays...

Minnesota Lawyers in the News: April 2, 2007.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff David T. Schultz has been elected chair of the board of directors for the Innocence Project of Minnesota. Schultz is a partner in the Litigation Practice Group at Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand, where he...

Minnesota Supreme Court seeks comments on ammendments to civil rules.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff The Minnesota Supreme Court will consider amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure without a hearing after soliciting and reviewing comments on the proposal, which was made by the court's Advisory Committee...

Cameras in the delivery room.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Dan Heilman Six years ago in St. Louis, Monica Webber was in the throes of giving birth to her son when it became apparent that the partially born baby's shoulder was stuck and needed to be dislodged from his mother's pubic bone....

Minnesota mulls e-discovery rules for state courts.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Michelle Lore With the ink still wet on the federal rules on electronic discovery, Minnesota is now considering whether to adopt a similar set of rules in its state courts. Although the state's discovery rules already allow for...

Minn. Supreme Court considers whether hospitals can be sued for negligently credentialing doctors.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Michelle Lore Five years ago, a woman suffering from morbid obesity underwent a gastric bypass operation at a hospital in Breckenridge, Minn. She soon became ill, but her doctor allegedly failed to recognize that her symptoms...

No damages means no legal fee award in franchise case, rules Minn. Court of Appeals.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A defendant who is found by a jury to have breached the Minnesota Franchise Act but who is not found liable for damages for that breach may not be required to pay the plaintiff's attorney fees, the Minnesota Court...

Minnesota Court of Appeals: A 'split' decision on legal fees.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Barbara L. Jones An attorney may recover under a quantum meruit theory where he performed work for another attorney who was paid a contingent fee, the Court of Appeals has ruled. The case addresses a frequent bone of contention...

Meet Minnesota Supreme Court Marshal Kim Ghilardi.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Barbara L. Jones In case you're tempted to chew gum while listening to the Supreme Court arguments, be warned: the high sheriff of the high court is watching you. "Oh yes," replied Minnesota Supreme Court Marshal Kim Ghilardi...

Trustee can sue lawyers allegedly involved in looting assets.(bankruptcy trustee)
April 9, 2007... Byline: Joy Simmons A bankruptcy trustee has standing to bring claims against lawyers who allegedly worked with corporate insiders to loot a corporation's assets, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals held. Reversing and remanding a U.S....

Debtors and lawyers struggle with credit counseling mandate.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Correy E. Stephenson Even before the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act went into effect in October 2005, attorneys decried its new requirements. Recently, one of the Act's mandates -- that all individual...

When should Minnesota judges be forced to retire?
April 9, 2007... Byline: Dan Heilman Legislators aren't told when to retire. Neither are mayors, county commissioners or any other elected officials in Minnesota. Members of the federal judiciary can serve as long as they want. But state court judges in...

Minnesota Compensation Council recommends judicial pay raise.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Minnesota Compensation Council has recommended a 5-percent increase in all judicial salaries effective July 1, 2007, and another 5 percent-raise on July 1, 2008. The recommendation is the...

8th Circuit upholds dismissal of claim against St. Paul.(Brief article)
April 9, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the dismissal of a claim against the city of St. Paul involving the shooting death of a paranoid schizophrenic by a police officer. Police...

Minneapolis-based Centro Legal launches community building forum.(Brief article)
April 9, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter This week Centro Legal, Inc., in collaboration with Mexican Consul Nathan Wolf, the City of Minneapolis, Chief of Police Tim Dolan and Mayor R.T. Rybak, will launch Proyecto Puentes (Bridges Project)....

DUI arrest in Becker County leads to civil rights lawsuit in federal court.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter A Lake Park man who claims he was mistreated by Becker County Deputy Sheriff Timothy Haverkamp has sued the officer and the county in U.S. District Court for violation of civil rights, false arrest,...

Minnesota Bar Buzz: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Two deputies exit AG's office The Minnesota Attorney General's office has lost two of its top deputies. Chief Deputy Attorney General Kris Eiden's last day was April 4, and Deputy Attorney...

Commentary: Tax tribunal tackles two troublesome topics.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick With income taxes due next week, many individuals, business, accountants, tax preparers and lawyers are tackling their tax returns. As this year's April 17 filing deadline looms on the horizon, the courts are...

Minnesota Lawyers in the News: April 9, 2007.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Five new attorneys have joined the Minneapolis office of Faegre & Benson. Cathleen F. Baraloto practices in the intellectual property area, concentrating in trademark matters. She received her law...

Commentary: Succession planning issues when selling a small law firm.
April 9, 2007... Byline: Edward Poll For the small firm, and especially the sole practitioner, selling a law practice to another qualified lawyer can alleviate a host of succession planning issues. However, without adequate planning for a sale, a sole...

Commentary: A management primer: Who moved the U.S. Attorney's cheese?(management style of American attorneys)
April 16, 2007... Byline: Mark A. Cohen Unlike the silly tempest in a teapot some made of Rachel Paulose's $225 investiture ceremony, the decision of the U.S. attorney's top deputies to step down from their leadership posts cannot be laughed off. It is...

Commentary: Best in Consumer Electronics Show.
April 16, 2007... Byline: Ed Kohler The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is the premier event for electronic gadgets and everything you could possibly hook up to them. While the show is not open to the public -- it's supposed to be a venue where...

The dissolution of 47-year staple of Twin Cities legal community, the Rider Bennett law firm.
April 16, 2007... Byline: Dan Heilman The dissolution of a 47-year staple of the Twin Cities legal community is bringing to the forefront the struggles faced by mid-sized law firms in an increasingly competitive marketplace. It's also showing how vulnerable...

Collaborative law is flourishing in the Twin Cities.
April 16, 2007... Byline: Dan Heilman The divorce proceedings had not been pretty. Fraught with hurtful recriminations over infidelities and other bitter circumstances, the couple came to St. Paul family lawyer Mary Antonia Wilmes to work out a divorce...

Minnesota judge rules concealing of mistake by Minneapolis law firm was legal malpractice.
April 16, 2007... Byline: Barbara L. Jones The lesson is a familiar one: concealing a mistake is as big a problem as making a mistake, if not bigger. That is the import of a recent decision by Judge Donovan W. Frank involving what Frank said was...

Minnesota Board of Law Examiners: Amendments would update and streamline bar admission rules.
April 16, 2007... Byline: Michelle Lore The Minnesota Board of Law Examiners wants more flexibility in determining when an applicant who has been denied admission to the bar may reapply. The Supreme Court announced late last month that it will consider...

Minnesota attorneys talk about importance of going into trial with a theme tying a case together.
April 16, 2007... Byline: Michelle Lore All good litigators worth their salt know and understand the importance of going into trial with a solid theme of their case. The theme should "wow" the jury. It should be cogent and clear -- usually just one...

8th Circuit considers challenge to controversial abortion law.
April 16, 2007... Byline: Donna Walter Lawyers representing Planned Parenthood, a group of pregnancy crisis centers and the state of South Dakota argued before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis last week about the requirements of the...

Minnesota Lawyers in the News: April 16, 2007.
April 16, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Mary L. Hahn has been named a partner with the Northfield law firm of Hvistendahl, Moersch & Dorsey. She is the firm's lead attorney in employment law, multiparty litigation and appellate work. Hahn...

Minnesota Bar Buzz: April 16, 2007.
April 16, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Randall bares his mind Court of Appeals Judge R.A. "Jim" Randall vented his frustration with the Minneapolis Police Department in a 16-page dissent last week in State v. Thoreson. The...

Minnesota's courts get high marks for fairness.(Brief article)
April 16, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Minnesotans' trust and confidence in their courts are high, and have risen in recent years, according to a survey recently conducted for the Minnesota Judicial Branch. The survey was a follow-up to a...

Genetic nondiscrimination bill moves forward in Congress.
April 16, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Legislation that would ban employers and health insurers from discriminating on the basis of genetic information has moved to the House floor after unanimous approval by the House Energy and Commerce...

Commentary: Make the right hire: use an employment agency.
April 16, 2007... Byline: Edward Poll We've emphasized before that even the smallest practices benefit from hiring the right administrative help to free up attorney time for practicing law and winning new clients. However, the hiring process in itself...

Finalists named for Tenth Judicial District Branch.(Richard C. Ilkka, Kristin C. Larson and Louis Thayer)(Brief article)
April 16, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Gov. Tim Pawlenty has named three finalists for a vacancy on the 10th Judicial District Branch: Richard C. Ilkka, Kristin C. Larson, and Louis Thayer. Ilkka, of Oak Park Heights, has been a...

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Veteran criminal defense lawyers give advice about working on murder cases.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Dan Heilman Despite the passage of 40 years, Minneapolis attorney Joe Friedberg still remembers his first murder case like it was yesterday. The defendant was a juvenile accused of murdering his uncle while under the influence...

Minnesota Lawyer unveils its new Blog.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Minnesota Lawyer this week is officially unveiling its new blog, which was created to serve as a forum for discussing issues of interest to the state's legal community. The Minnesota Lawyer Blog...

Is law needed in Minnesota to help doctors say, 'I'm sorry?'.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Dan Heilman Is an apology necessarily an admission of culpability? Or is it just a sincere display of remorse? A bill recently introduced in the Minnesota Legislature is attempting to more clearly define how that distinction will...

The push for civil 'Gideon' gaining ground throughout U.S.(right to counsel for the poor)
April 23, 2007... Byline: Michelle Lore Should low-income individuals faced with a crisis situation -- like the potential loss of their home or their child -- be entitled to legal counsel? The question is one that has been percolating through many...

Gas explosion cases against Centerpoint Energy settled.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Three cases involving a natural gas explosion in Ramsey were recently settled out of court. The Dec. 28, 2004, explosion killed three women and badly injured a man. Settlement amounts for the three...

Three cases involving a natural gas explosion in Ramsey were recently settled out of court. The Dec. 28, 2004, explosion killed three women and badly injured a man. Settlement amounts for the three clients and their families were not disclosed.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Three cases involving a natural gas explosion in Ramsey were recently settled out of court. The Dec. 28, 2004, explosion killed three women and badly injured a man. Settlement amounts for the three...

Lawyers who are managers have a lot to juggle.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Michelle Lore Whether in a public law office, like the U.S. Attorney's office, or in large or small private law firms, lawyers turned managers have their work cut out for them. Experts in the field of law office management say...

Interview with 6th Judicial District Court Judge Heather Sweetland.(Interview)
April 23, 2007... Byline: Dan Heilman Having worked as a public lawyer for Legal Aid and the Public Defender's Office and as a private lawyer in a sole practice and in a partnership, 6th Judicial District Court Judge Heather Sweetland has a broad view of...

Minnesota Bar Buzz: April 23, 2007.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter First impressions matter Minneapolis's own Paul Westerberg once sang derisively of flight attendants, "You ain't nothing but a waitress in the sky." Well, some folks really do see the value in...

Problems associated with the naming of John Doe defendants.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Barbara L. Jones When six imams who were removed from a Northwest Airlines flight sued for civil rights allegations, they included as defendants "John Does" who were airline employees and passengers who allegedly alerted...

Commentary: What litigators can learn from mediators.(Column)
April 23, 2007... Byline: Dick Dahl Litigators and mediators are not exactly birds of a feather. Although both deal with conflict resolution, they have radically different notions about what constitutes a successful outcome and how to go about achieving it....

Minnesota panel to reflect on post-9/11 policies and narratives.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter A panel discussion detailing the backlash and resultant fear felt by Minnesota's immigrant and refugee communities following the tragedy on Sept. 11 is scheduled to be held at the University of...

Commentary: Nothing personal: Leave the loan alone.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Edward Poll A new and growing law firm often seeks a bank loan when cash needs exceed cash-generation ability through client receipts and partner capital. An unexpected tax liability, a new equipment purchase, unanticipated...

Vacancy on Minnesota Advisory Committee on Rules of Criminal Procedure.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Supreme Court is seeking one county attorney member from greater Minnesota to fill a vacancy on the Advisory Committee on Rules of Criminal Procedure. The committee meets six to eight times...

Minnesota Lawyers in the News: April 23, 2007.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Maxwell J. Bremer and Alyssa J. Hirschfeld have joined the Minneapolis office of Gray Plant Mooty as associates. Bremer practices in the area of Business Law Transactions. He is a graduate of the...

Verdicts & Settlements.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Personal Injury Automobile-Pedestrian Accident Injuries Alleged: Closed-head injury; fractures Settlement: $2,550,000 Plaintiff's Attorney: Edward W. Gale, Leonard, O'Brien Spencer...

Commentary: Ethics and the unemployed: The 'single incident' exception.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick The unemployment compensation laws have, over the years, been modified to make it harder for employees to obtain unemployment benefits. The difficulties that discharged employees face in achieving unemployment...

Chief U.S. District Court judge issues final order on bankruptcy act.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Chief U.S. District Court Judge James Rosenbaum issued an order last week expanding upon his prior ruling declaring a portion of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005...

Trial consultants: Scales of justice weighted against plus-size clients.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Nora Lockwood Tooher More than half of Americans are either overweight or obese, but that doesn't make jurors sympathetic toward plaintiffs packing extra pounds. Amy Pardieck, a trial consultant with MetaSystems, Ltd. in...

Faegre & Benson law firm honored for work on behalf of animals.
April 23, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Faegre & Benson was one of four law firms honored last week by the Humane Society of the United States for outstanding pro bono litigation on behalf of animals in 2006. The firm represented HSUS...

Bar not liable when patron jumps from bridge to avoid arrest by police.
April 27, 2007... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A bar is not liable for the death of an allegedly intoxicated patron who jumped into a river to avoid arrest, the Court of Appeals has found. The decedent was stopped for speeding on a bridge over the Minnesota...

'What's the monetary value of the average pet?".(Stephanie Rozman v. Menu Foods Income Fund)
April 30, 2007... Byline: Michelle Lore St. Louis Park resident Stephanie Rozman lost her golden retriever, Csaba, last month to sudden and unexpected kidney failure. She contends that Csaba died as a result of eating poisoned dog food manufactured by Menu...

Minnesota Lawyers in the News: April 30, 2007.
April 30, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Michael F. Fleming, Bradley J. Hennen and Cynthia M. Klaus have been elected as shareholders of Larkin Hoffman Daly & Lindgren Ltd. Fleming is a member of the firm's intellectual property, technology...

Commentary: Avoid the baggage of unclaimed funds.
April 30, 2007... Byline: Edward Poll A story in the April 2 issue of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly ("Attorney: Unclaimed money piling up in IOLTA accounts") raises an interesting dilemma: some lawyers' inability to track the owners of IOLTA money. This...

Branded: Niche marketing your litigation practices.
April 30, 2007... Byline: David A. Schooler Many litigation firms make the mistake of marketing themselves as full service law firms. Examine law firm websites and you will discover nearly universal proclamations that the law firms can handle all types of...

Minnesota State Bar Association members go to Washington.
April 30, 2007... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Norm Coleman, Republican senator from Minnesota, has been heard to say that Washington, D.C., is a town of a thousand issues and a few priorities. Members of the Minnesota State Bar Association took their...

Bar not liable when patron jumps from bridge to avoid arrest, rules Minn. Court of Appeals.(Osborne, et al. v. Twin Town Bowl, Inc.)(Case overview)
April 30, 2007... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A bar is not liable for the death of an allegedly intoxicated patron who jumped into a river to avoid arrest, the Court of Appeals has found. The decedent was stopped for speeding on a bridge over the...

Indian law matures in Minnesota.
April 30, 2007... Byline: Dick Dahl Back in the old days before the first Indian gambling casino was built, attorney John E. Jacobson was known as a rare bird. He was one of only a tiny handful of lawyers in Minnesota who focused their practices on...

Blogs as marketing tools: Lawyers who maintain them say they work.
April 30, 2007... Byline: Michelle Lore How does a Minnesota attorney end up as a guest on Maine Public Radio's Maine Things Considered? Rider Bennett business law attorney Patrick Robben is convinced he got on the show because his law blog -- the Minnesota...

Bigger firms taking cases on contingency.
April 30, 2007... Byline: Dick Dahl James Wallace, partner in a 270-lawyer Washington, D.C., firm, never used to get calls from potential plaintiffs. But now he gets them almost every day. That's because in March 2006, Wallace's first venture into...

Minnesota Bar Buzz: April 30, 2007.(Sweet Land won Best Film in the City Pages)(Susan Holden's confrontation with Tim Walz)(Mark Dayton v. Brad Hanson)
April 30, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Law Day perspectives "Perspectives on Judicial Elections" is the topic of a Law Day Forum presented by the St. Paul League of Women Voters on Tuesday, May 1 at William Mitchell College of Law. A...

Minnesota Legal Briefs: April 30, 2007.
April 30, 2007... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Vacancy announced on CLE board One public (nonlawyer) member position is open on the 13-member Minnesota State Board of Continuing Legal Education. The all-volunteer board is made up of three...