Minnesota Lawyer articles from November 2004

Minnesota Lawyer archives from November 2004

Minnesota lawyers decry being targeted in political ads.
November 1, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Plaintiffs' personal injury lawyers are feeling a little defensive these days, seeing themselves under attack in political campaigns nationally and in Minnesota where some campaign ads have made "taking money from...

William Mitchell College of Law hosts first national special master conference.
November 1, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore The Advance Dispute Resolution Institute at William Mitchell College of Law (WMCL) and the National Arbitration Forum recently sponsored the first-ever Conference of Special Masters. The event, held Oct. 22 and 23...

MN Court of Appeals upholds commitment jurisdiction in Dept. of Corrections case.(Minnesota Department of Corrections)
November 1, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones The Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) had personal jurisdiction over a person subject to commitment proceedings while on a conditional release from prison even though a court later determined that the...

Part I: How to find the expert that is right for your client's case.
November 1, 2004... Byline: Jane Pribek The other side produces 500,000 documents in Japanese. Translation costs alone will be millions. Do you give all the documents to your expert to muddle through them, at a cost of several hundred dollars per hour? Sure,...

Minnesota Supreme Court says party affiliation is not public data.
November 1, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The political party affiliations of election judges are not public data under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (MGDPA), the Supreme Court ruled last week. The judges are employees of...

MN Supreme Court explains decision to leave appellate judge's name on ballot.(Minnesota Supreme Court)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Minnesota Supreme Court last week issued its rationale for its Aug. 13 denial of a petition that would have required the removal of Court of Appeals Judge David Minge from the Nov. 2 election...

Commentary: The importance of following proper notary procedures.
November 1, 2004... Byline: Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility October has just passed, so we now welcome the many new lawyers who were admitted last month. These lawyers learned a lot in law school. There are important lessons, however, that are...

Minneapolis lawyers organize CD project to benefit missing children.(Compact Disk)(Missing Children Minnesota)
November 1, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Code Blue is the subscription e-mail alert system of Missing Children Minnesota that notifies participants when a child is lost. It is also the title of a new compact disc, "Missing: Code Blue-Volume I" that was...

US District Court for Minnesota announces new policy on criminal case files.(Public Notice)
November 1, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota issued the following notice last week: Pursuant to the Judicial Conference of the United States Courts Policy on Privacy and Public Access to...

Commentary: The $6 million awards: Punitives in the 8th Circuit.(United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit)
November 1, 2004... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick Punitive damages are awarded only infrequently. While they often provide a specter hanging over defendants, they are rarely granted to plaintiffs. On the rare occasions when exemplary damages are granted,...

MN Legal Briefs: November 1, 2004.
November 1, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Joseph W. Anthony, managing partner of Anthony Ostlund & Baer, will serve as president of the Minneapolis chapter of the International Network of Boutique Law Firms (INBLF). The INBLF is an...

Incumbents come out on top in all of Minnesota's judicial races.
November 8, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter All nine incumbents involved in contested judicial races prevailed over their challengers in last week's election. Justice Alan C. Page - the only member of the Supreme Court who faced a...

Hennepin County Bar Association-backed initiative aims to help lawyers aid nonprofits.
November 8, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore The Hennepin County Bar Association (HCBA) is launching an effort in January to address the need for lawyers and other professionals to assist nonprofit organizations. The HCBA's Leaders Impacting the Nonprofit...

Leonardo Castro reflects on first term as Hennepin County's chief defender.
November 8, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore Leonardo Castro's first term as Hennepin County's chief public defender has not been without its challenges. Over the past several years, public defenders' offices statewide have struggled with severe budget...

MN Court of Appeals overturns two more durational departure decisions.(Minnesota Court of Appeals)
November 8, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones The Court of Appeals last week issued two more decisions reviewing sentences for compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court's 2004 decision in Blakely v. Washington. In Blakely, the high court held that a defendant...

Rene Diebold appointed to Minnesota's judicial selection commission.(Brief Article)
November 8, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced last week the appointment of Rene Diebold to the Commission on Judicial Selection. Diebold, of Granite Falls, is an attorney in private practice in Marshall. Her...

MN Legal Briefs: November 8, 2004.(Minnesota)
November 8, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Winthrop & Weinstine has announced the addition of three new attorneys: Tammera Ericson, Samuel T. Lockner, and William A. McNab. Ericson, an associate in the real estate and legislative and...

Commentary: Border battles: Minnesota vs. Wisconsin cases.
November 8, 2004... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick Besides a common border, Minnesota and Wisconsin share a number of other similarities. They include the size of the population, both with large Germanic stock; deep-seated agricultural roots, dominated by dairy...

Defense credits St. Louis County jury in Great Lakes Aquarium case.
November 8, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore Defense attorneys give a lot of credit to an attentive, educated St. Louis County jury that found for their clients in a case involving the Great Lakes Aquarium in Duluth. On Oct. 23, after eight weeks of trial, a...

Commentary: Understanding stock analyst recommendations.
November 8, 2004... Byline: James J. Eccleston The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) has published helpful guidance for investors who may consider relying upon stock analyst recommendations. The publication is located at...

First graduating class of Minnesota's St. Thomas School of Law holds their own on bar exam.
November 15, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore The first graduating class of the state's newest law school achieved a respectable 84.15 passage rate on the bar examination administered last summer. The University of St. Thomas School of Law - founded three...

Alternative dispute resolution examined at recent Minn. State Bar Assn.'s CLE seminar.(Minnesota)
November 15, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) section of the Minnesota State Bar Association last week presented a lunchtime program exploring some innovative new areas in ADR practice. "Cutting Edge ADR - Expanding...

Arbitration award with no hearing is ruled invalid by MN Court of Appeals.
November 15, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Absent a waiver from the parties, an arbitrator's award entered without first holding an adversarial hearing was invalid, the Court of Appeals has ruled. The arbitrator met with each party separately, but did...

Part II: A few tips on how to use experts in a cost-effective manner.
November 15, 2004... Byline: Jane Pribek Editor's Note: This article is the second in a two-part series on the use of experts. The first article appeared in the Nov. 1 edition of Minnesota Lawyer. Two weeks ago, Minnesota Lawyer asked a panel of...

Two Minnesota Supreme Court judges to receive awards.(Brief Article)
November 15, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Sam Hanson and Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Terri J. Stoneburner will each receive the 2004 Century Leadership Award, presented by the Campaign for Legal Aid of...

Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association receives national recognition for its efforts.(Brief Article)
November 15, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association (MDLA) was recently recognized for its efforts to improve the quality of defense practice in Minnesota. MDLA was honored by DRI - the Voice of the...

Minnesota Legal Briefs: November 15, 2004.(appointments)
November 15, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter Merchant & Gould has announced that Matt Bredesen, Dina Grinshpun, Heather Kliebenstein, Julie Skoge and Chris Sorenson have joined the firm as associates. Bredesen, practicing general intellectual...

Commentary: Premature appeals: the 8th Circuit is split.
November 15, 2004... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick Initiating an appeal after the filing deadline usually is fatal. Under rule 104 of the Minnesota Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure, appeals in civil cases generally must be taken from a judgment or other...

Commentary: Technology for everyone (even Mac users).
November 15, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Our readers know that Minnesota Lawyer brings an update every week on the seemingly ceaseless flow of technology products that are available to assist attorneys in organizing and delivering high-quality service....

American Bar Assn. survey looks at lawyers' use of technology.
November 15, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones The American Bar Association (ABA) Legal Technology Resource Center has released the results of its most recent survey on lawyers' use of technology. During the fall of 2003, the center mailed questionnaires to...

National Center for the State Courts to develop guidelines for electronic discovery.
November 15, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Lawyers and judges nationwide are still in the pioneer days of electronic discovery, that is, the practice of getting into your opponent's hard drive and mining for gold. Preparing for trial in a case where the...

American Bar Association approves amendments to civil discovery standards.
November 15, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones The American Bar Association has approved civil discovery standards that provide practice tools for litigators. The following excerpt of the Amendments to the Civil Discovery Standards concerns privilege and...

The Sedona Principles for Electronic Document Production.
November 15, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones 1. Electronic data and documents are potentially discoverable under Fed. R. Civ. P. 34 or its state law equivalents. Organizations must properly preserve electronic data and documents that can reasonably be...

Commentary: A low-tech judge in a high-tech world.
November 15, 2004... Byline: Hon. James M. Rosenbaum As a child, I read about Chicken Little. Now older, I'm amazed at its prescience. Nearing my dotage, I realize there are rather few world-changing events. And the sky is seldom falling. Turning from...

The minority opinion of the legal community is that Macs rule.
November 15, 2004... Byline: Jane Pribek Why drive a Yugo when you can drive a BMW? That's the attitude of the minority of the legal community that prefers Apple Macintosh computers to PCs running Microsoft's Windows. St. Paul attorney Peter C. Grayson has...

Tips from experts on when and how to use real-time court reporting.
November 15, 2004... Byline: Jane Pribek Remember the O.J. Simpson trial - probably your first exposure to real-time transcription - and how slick you thought it was? Real-time court reporting, like most technologies, has advanced a great deal since then,...

More attorneys conduct mediation by videoconferencing because nothing is lost.
November 15, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore Finding the right mediator for a particular case can be a challenge. It's an even greater challenge, not to mention a huge expense, if the mediator you want is located in another state. But that is all changing. ...

Member's claim against the YMCA is dismissed by MN Court of Appeals.(Young Men's Christian Associations)
November 22, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore A man who challenged his dismissal from membership in the YMCA was required to obtain the support of at least 49 other members in order to initiate an action against the nonprofit corporation, the Minnesota Court of...

Lawyers give Minnesota's governor high marks for judicial appointments.
November 22, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Approaching the midpoint of his term, Gov. Tim Pawlenty gets high marks from members of the bar on his judicial appointments so far. Pawlenty has appointed 17 judges to the bench since he took office in January...

MN Supreme Court weighs action against social workers.(Minnesota)
November 22, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones The Supreme Court is currently pondering whether the trustee for a child who was beaten to death can sue county and child protection workers for negligence when the county investigated the situation but failed to...

8th Circuit Court of Appeals grants asylum seeker from Sudan another chance.
November 22, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated a Board of Immigration Appeals' denial of asylum to a native of Sudan because the BIA failed to make adequate findings regarding the petitioner's...

MN matrimonial lawyers group opposes alimony withholding change.(Brief Article)
November 22, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter According to a press release from the Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), thousands of Minnesota recipients of alimony may be adversely affected by a new policy...

Commentary: Exploring why lawyers should do pro bono work.
November 22, 2004... Byline: Thomas M. Mengler and Neil W. Hamilton For the most part, the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct are intended to establish only a floor - the bare minimum - for ethical conduct and professional competence. Nearly all the...

MN Legal Briefs: November 22, 2004.(Minnesota Justice Foundation )
November 22, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Minnesota Justice Foundation (MJF) held its anuual award ceremony this month honoring the following five individuals for their service to the community: Sarah Shella-Stevens, attorney at Central...

A chronology of Minnesota Gov. Pawlenty's bench appointments.
November 22, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones As of Nov. 17, 2004, Governor Pawlenty has appointed 17 judges: * One associate justice to the Supreme Court, * One judge to the Court of Appeals, * Ten judges to the District Court, * One chief...

Commentary: Cases show dangers of determining damages in advance.
November 22, 2004... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick Liquidated damages constitute a device for parties to stipulate in advance a remedy in the event of a future breach of agreement. They are, in a sense, one of the oldest forms of alternative dispute resolution...

U.S. Supreme Court upholds Blakely ruling of upward durational departure.
November 29, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore The rule announced by the U.S. Supreme Court in Blakely v. Washington - that all facts supporting a durational departure from the sentencing guidelines be determined by a jury - did not retroactively apply on...

MN Legal Briefs: November 29, 2004.(Brief Article)
November 29, 2004... Byline: Minnesota Lawyer Staff Reporter The Minnesota American Indian Bar Association has announced that scholarships have been awarded to the following students: Andrea Yardley, Oglala Sioux Tribe, University of Minnesota Law School; R....

Mark Rotenberg still enjoys diverse challenges as general counsel of University of MN.
November 29, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore In Mark Rotenberg's 12 years as general counsel of the University of Minnesota, he has faced a variety of challenges. The 50-year-old Minneapolis attorney has led the university through several high-profile matters,...

MN Court of Appeals rules paternity established after father's death affirmed.
November 29, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones A man may establish parentage by genetic testing after his biological father's death without regard to the statute of limitations set forth in Minn. Stat. sec. 257.58, known as the Parentage Act, the Court of...

Minnesota CLE seminar deals with the jury gap.(continuing legal education)
November 29, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones Processing information through a jury is a little bit like that child's game of "telephone," where a message gets whispered around a circle from individual to individual and by the end differs greatly from the...

MN Judicial District Chief Judge rules implied consent statute is unconstitutional.
November 29, 2004... Byline: Barbara L. Jones The implied consent statute, which authorizes an immediate driver's license revocation if a driver fails or refuses a test for a controlled substance, was declared unconstitutional last week by 1st Judicial...

Commentary: Avoiding common investor problems.
November 29, 2004... Byline: James J. Eccleston The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) has published helpful guidance for investors on its Web site, www.nasd.com, entitled, "Common Investor Problems and How to Avoid Them." These "Investors'...

Minnesota Court of Appeals rules 'Blakely' applies to departures in 'Lothenbach' trial.
November 29, 2004... Byline: Michelle Lore In a separate decision issued the same day as State v. Petschl, the Court of Appeals ruled on the application of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Blakely v. Washington in a different context. In State v. Johnson,...

8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejects recent rulings, revives racial bias claims.
November 29, 2004... Byline: Marshall H. Tanick It's relatively rare for juries and judges in Minnesota and surrounding states to find racial discrimination in the workplace. This infrequency is due to a number of factors, including the relatively small,...