One of the great pleasures of solo/small law firm life is the flexibility and freedom that allows one to do things like blogging. Large or medium-sized law firm lawyers are constrained by firm bureaucracies and also by one of the most, if not the single most, conservative/cautious workplace environments around. (Heaven help Partner A (let alone Associate F) for a blog post that steps on the toes of Partner B’s client’s industry, etc., etc.)
(In the big firms’ defense, lawyers generally have to proceed with caution given client confidences, positional conflicts, and so on. And, in the larger firms since the left hand often does not know what the right hand is doing, the behemoths have to tread with the greatest of care.)
After practicing for 15 years in mid- and large-sized Minneapolis law firms, Dawn Van Tassel has recently founded Van Tassel Law Firm to advise clients about business litigation, employment law and appeals in Minnesota and elsewhere. This frees Dawn up as never before to share her deep expertise and insights and Minnesota Litigator is delighted that Dawn is willing to share them here!
She also serves as a mediator, assisting parties to resolve disputes before they end up in court. Dawn Van Tassel is a 1999 graduate of Berkeley Law (formerly Boalt Hall School of Law) and she can be reached at dawn@dawnvantassel.com.