Minnesota Lawyer articles from March 2006

Minnesota Lawyer archives from March 2006

Commentary: Court considers contentious 'closed' corporation cases.
March 6, 2006... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick Shareholders in small, or close, corporations often are linked by familial ties or other personal relationships. But when those affiliations go awry, problems often arise and the ensuing disputes can lead to...

MN Lawyers in the News: March 6, 2006.
March 6, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Melissa M. Wendland has joined the Minneapolis office of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, L.L.P., as an associate, focusing her practice on intellectual property litigation. Wendland received her J.D....

8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals case highlights the importance of public trials.
March 6, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a man's conviction for aggravated sexual abuse on the grounds that his Sixth Amendment right to a public trial was violated. In a case out of Minnesota, United...

The race for Minnesota Attorney General has begun.
March 6, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones With about eight months to go before the election, the two major political parties each have identified one candidate for the office of Minnesota Attorney General, both old hands politically from the House of...

Do you really want to be a 'friend of the court'?(Minnesota State Bar Association conducts seminar)
March 6, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore Amicus curiae really does mean "friend of the court," appellate attorneys stressed at a recent continuing legal education (CLE) seminar. On Feb. 24, the Minnesota State Bar Association's Appellate Practice...

MN Supreme Court to rule on allocation of water-intrusion losses.
March 6, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones As builders and insurance companies these days regularly find themselves flooded with water- intrusion claims from unhappy homeowners, the salient question is not so much if the defendants will have to pay damages...

MN Bar Buzz: March 6, 2006.(women lawyers meet)(Gray Plant Mooty P.A donates hats)(cases of Vickie Lynn Marshall and E. Pierce Marshall)
March 6, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter "Juris Divas" debut attracts quite a crowd The first official meeting of the "Juris Divas" was reported to be a "smashing success." The self-proclaimed group of "smart, sassy lawyers or...

Commentary: Candor to the tribunal: Changes to Rule 3.3 of the professional rules.
March 6, 2006... Byline: Patrick R. Burns It should be self-evident that lawyers ought not lie to the court or knowingly submit false evidence. There have been some recent changes to the Rules of Professional Conduct that expand upon this concept. A...

Commentary: The long road to recovery.(recovery of New Orleans from hurricane katirna disaster)
March 13, 2006... Byline: Mark A. Cohen Six months after Hurricane Katrina, the washed-out first level of her house still has no furniture - and probably won't for at least another year. Her family has a total of four plates and three forks to use for...

Minnesota bar gets high marks for its relief efforts.
March 13, 2006... Byline: Mark A. Cohen It is difficult to gauge the full extent of the gratitude that the Louisiana bar feels for its colleagues in Minnesota without actually going down there to experience it. In a recent interview in New Orleans with...

Louisiana Bar uses donated funds to restore the state's justice system.
March 13, 2006... Byline: Mark A. Cohen With the money that has been donated for its post-Katrina efforts, the Louisiana State Bar Association has set up three funds through its bar foundation:* the first was formed almost exclusively to assist individual...

MN law schools weigh in on military recruitment decision.(Minnesota)
March 13, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week to uphold a federal law that threatens schools with the loss of federal funds if they ban military recruiters from their campuses came as little surprise to local law...

MN patent suit result was rare triple win.(Minnesota)(court cases win for Arctic Cat Inc.)
March 13, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones In a dispute that seemed to last longer than a Minnesota winter, Minnesota snowmobile manufacturer Arctic Cat Inc. last month scored a rare hat trick in a patent-infringement declaratory judgment lawsuit.After a...

Public discipline records for Minnesota lawyers now online.
March 13, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Members of the public can now look up records of public discipline of Minnesota lawyers. The Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility has recently added the records to its Web site. The...

Minnesota law firm 'loans' lawyers to prosecutor's office.
March 13, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Fulbright & Jaworski's Minnesota office recently launched an "attorney loan program" between the law firm and the Ramsey County Attorney's Office. Through the program, Fulbright associates are loaned full...

MN Bar Buzz: March 13, 2006.(Minnesota)(criticism of a book)
March 13, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The burden of proof (reading)A new book - "Sorcerers' Apprentices: 100 Years of Law Clerks at the United States Supreme Court" - argues that court clerks have more power than they probably should and...

Commentary: There and back again: My brief sojourn to New Orleans.(travel of New Orleans)
March 13, 2006... Byline: Mark A. Cohen Minneapolis-based Dolan Media - which owns business and legal papers in markets throughout the United States - once a year sponsors a conference for the editors of its various publications. Since Minnesota Lawyer is...

Commentary: St. Patrick's Day prompts legal problems.
March 13, 2006... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick St. Patrick's Day probably will generate more revelry than usual this year because it falls on Friday this week, prompting a three-day weekend of events in honor of the legendary cleric who reputedly drove the...

Commentary: Priorities differ for judiciary leaders in short session.
March 13, 2006... Byline: Ember Reichgott Junge The four key lawmakers on judiciary and criminal justice issues identify the same small list of issues for the short 2006 legislative session. Beyond that, priorities differ greatly. That's not surprising....

MN Lawyers in the News: March 13, 2006.
March 13, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Ronald Lahner has joined Dorsey and Whitney's Minneapolis office. Lahner's practice will focus primarily on hospitals, healthcare networks, health plans and medical device companies. Lahner received...

Hennepin County Bar Foundation raises more than $100K, attorneys honored.
March 13, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter More than $83,000 was contributed to the Hennepin County Bar Foundation through the annual Bar Benefit, setting a record for the eighth consecutive year. In addition, the Volunteer Lawyers Network...

Women attorneys still encountering the glass ceiling in the legal profession.
March 20, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore Former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Esther Tomljanovich walked out of the St. Paul College of Law in 1955, not planning on applying for a job with a law firm because she knew none would hire her. Thirty-three years...

MN Supreme Court to hold hearing on changes to sentencing rules.(Minnesota)
March 20, 2006... Byline: Mark A. Cohen The Minnesota Supreme Court last week set a hearing date on a proposal to revamp the state's procedural rules governing sentencing. On May 23, 2006, the justices will hear public input on the Supreme Court Advisory...

Family farm suit leads to a $249K award in Minnesota court.
March 20, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore The odds were stacked against the plaintiffs - a husband and wife ejected by the husband's parents from the family farm that they were helping to operate. It is highly unusual for such a matter to wind up in...

Law firm management still a male-dominated world.
March 20, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore Women practitioners are pleased with the progress they have made in the legal profession over the past few decades, but many believe that the "glass ceiling" and other barriers to equality continue to permeate the...

MN Supreme Court considers malpractice insurance reporting requirement.
March 20, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Minnesota Supreme Court is considering requiring lawyers to report whether they carry malpractice insurance.The proposal - which would require an amendment to the Minnesota Rules for Registration...

8th Circuit rules disabled student was given appropriate education.
March 20, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a decision that a 14-year-old disabled student at an Anoka High School received a free appropriate public education (FAPE) within the meaning of the...

Minnesota Legislature looks at limits on governmental liability.
March 20, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A bill that would limit the tort liability of governmental units acting in a joint venture or joint enterprise to one statutory cap has been introduced in the Minnesota Senate and House of Representatives. After a...

MN Bar Buzz: March 20, 2006.(Foley and Mansfield opens a fitness center )
March 20, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Statutes of limitations are not the only thing running at Foley & MansfieldWhen space became vacant in the building where the Minneapolis office of Foley & Mansfield is located, the law firm snapped...

Blood-alcohol test refusal charge upheld by MN Court of Appeals.(Minnesota)
March 20, 2006... Byline: Mark A. Cohen Failing to inform a driver of the severity of the penalties of refusing a blood-alcohol test does not bar the state from prosecuting the driver for not taking the test, the Court of Appeals ruled last week.While...

Commentary: To arbitrate or not poses perplexing questions.
March 20, 2006... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick "To be, or not to be: that is the question,"-Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III, Scene I, 1661Judges are often confronted with the question of whether a dispute must be arbitrated and, after the arbitration, whether...

Discussion between retired judge and attorney about how attire for female lawyers has changed.
March 20, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter During a recent interview with Minnesota Lawyer, former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Esther Tomljanovich and Minnesota State Bar Association President Susan Holden discussed how attire for female...

Law school students are half women, but faculty still lags behind.
March 20, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore The American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession reported that as of the fall of 2004, nationwide 47.5 percent of all first-year law school enrollees were women, while women comprised 48 percent of...

Confidentiality agreements seal settlements - although some say secrets are not in the public's best.
March 27, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Most people know that a lawsuit is no way to keep anything secret, but that doesn't stop people from trying. Confidentiality agreements seal settlements - although some say secrets are not in the public's best...

Minnesota Lawyer to honor Up and Coming Attorneys for 2006.
March 27, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Again this year Minnesota Lawyer honors 15 of the state's top new lawyers as our Up and Coming Attorneys for 2006. "All the nominees as well as the attorneys selected are exemplary lawyers who do the...

Minnesota attorney goes from disciplining lawyers to deciding controversies.(Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility)
March 27, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore When Kenneth Jorgensen became the director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (OLPR) in 2002 - after working there for 20 years - he told Minnesota Lawyer that he had no intention of staying with the...

Changes in DWI laws are keeping MN criminal defense lawyers busy.(driving while intoxicated)
March 27, 2006... Byline: Michelle Lore The changes over the past several years in the laws relating to driving while intoxicated (DWI) are keeping criminal defense lawyers busy.Two of the state's major legislative changes in the DWI area are the addition...

MN Bar Buzz: March 27, 2006.
March 27, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Nobody talks to the justices about casesIn a statement and a telephone press conference last week, Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Russell A. Anderson used as many ways he could think of to say...

Supreme Court to consider changes to Minnesota Rules of Evidence.
March 27, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones For the first time in 15 years, the Minnesota Rules of Evidence will be reviewed by the Supreme Court. A hearing is scheduled for June 20, 2006, to consider amendments to the rules proposed by the Supreme Court...

Judges can run for MN State Bar Association office but speech is restricted.
March 27, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones An advisory opinion issued last year by the Board on Judicial Standards gives judges the green light to run for office with the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) but also regulates what they can say while...

MN Supreme Court strikes down limits on public defender representation.
March 27, 2006... Byline: Barbara L. Jones The Supreme Court last week struck down a 2003 law that allowed the state public defender to decline to represent in a petition for postconviction relief a man who pled guilty to second-degree murder and kidnapping...

MN Lawyers in the News: March 27, 2006.
March 27, 2006... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Aaron R. Hartman has joined Fryberger, Buchanan, Smith & Frederick, P.A., as an associate attorney. With experience in a variety of business disputes, including breach of contract, business torts and...

Letter to the Editor.(Letter to the editor)
March 27, 2006... Byline: Letter to the Editor To the editor:I read with interest in the March 20 issue of Minnesota Lawyer the problems the members the Board of County Commissioners of Wadena County face as they are confronted with the need for a new jail....

Commentary: Persistence pays for parking placard plaintiffs.
March 27, 2006... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick The old saying, "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," was epitomized recently in a ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals invalidating a fee for parking placards for disabled people. The case...