Several years ago, Minnesota Litigator took the position that no lawyer should ever go to trial alone. This might have seemed paradoxical to some readers, coming from LEVENTHAL pllc, a solo lawyer civil litigation firm since its birth, one sunny day back in October, 2010. But, for every trial we have had, LEVENTHAL pllc has teamed […]
Fair Isaac Corporation (“FICO”) is a Delaware corporation with its HQ now in California (and, before that, with its HQ in Minneapolis (2004-2013)). Callcredit Information Group Limited is an English company with its headquarters in the United Kingdom and offices in Japan, Lithuania, China, and Dubai. Michael Gordon left FICO to become Callcredit’s CEO and, […]
The previous post touched on the challenge of setting a dollar amount for sanctions. This week, we also note a six-year long civil lawsuit (and counting), which has been up to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit not once, but twice. Maybe the fight about the appropriate measure of damages will result […]
As anyone who likes to think about words and the English language will agree, “sanction” is an odd word. It can mean its opposite as in “The N.F.L. sanctioned the Make-a-Wish Foundation event” vs. “The judge sanctioned the N.F.L. lawyers.” One sentence uses “sanction” to mean “officially permit” or “approve.” The other means a “penalize,” […]
Scott Richardson, a third-generation Austin, Minnesota lawyer, is turning 70 years old this year and he’s retiring from the practice of law. He wrote about the experience in the April issue of Bench and Bar, the Minnesota State Bar Association magazine and gave his fellow solo/small firm lawyers valuable and practical information, difficult if not impossible […]
Update (April 12, 2017): Below is a string of posts stretching over the past four years in which Minnesota Litigator emphasizes that “valuation is an inexact science” but that does not mean that valuations or appraisals are entirely manipulable and worthless. Sometimes, though, we wonder. Last week, the Minnesota Supreme Court issued an opinion on an appeal […]
Update (April 10, 2017): In the original post below, we pondered the idea of computers replacing civil litigators, suggesting it might be at least a decade or two away. To be more precise, the complete replacement of civil litigators by computers is at least a decade or two away. As for the partial replacement, you are out of […]
It seems that being branded an “intellectual” is widely regarded as an insult in the United States. U.S. Politicians fear being labeled “egg-heads.” We seem to revere the doers and sneer at the thinkers (as if one can succeed without the other). There seems to be a deep conviction among many Americans that “intellectuals” (1) […]
The Minnesota Litigator blog, “News and Commentary About Minnesota Civil Litigation,” has now officially posted more than 2,000 entries over its 9-year life. Thanks to our many contributors, editors, commenters, critics, and, above all, to our faithful and voracious readers. As we have said time and again, Minnesota Litigator is only good when it benefits from (and […]
It has been a while since Minnesota Litigator has lamented what it calls “the Minnesota hair-cut” — that is when, in our view, Minnesota courts go wild with the clipper on attorney fee petitions. The hiatus is not because this trend has abated. It just gets boring to highlight every time lawyers have their fees slashed by […]