We have a “justice system” charged with interpreting and enforcing laws. Many of us are proud of it. Others of us are critical of it. Unfortunately, many people are even disgusted and dispirited by it. They have no faith in it. Why? There are plenty of reasons. Some are convinced, “the fix is in.” They […]
I recently had the pleasure of talking with a Hennepin County judge who told me something I have heard many time before. Of the criminal bar, the personal injury bar, the family law bar, and the business litigation bar, there is no comparison when it comes to unreasonableness. Business litigators, the consensus is, are comparatively […]
Updated post (July 22, 2015): It is more than two years after the original post about a previous appeal in this dispute, below. The case has dragged on. The parties entered into a settlement agreement at one point but it seems the agreement unraveled because it was premised on the purchase of a business and […]
I have had the honor and pleasure of crossing paths with our new Minnesota State Bar Association President Mike Unger in recent years. In fact, he has been an invaluable contributor to Minnesota Litigator (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). As covered on the “President’s Page” of the Minnesota State Bar Association’s (“MSBA”) Bench & […]
As discussed in the previous post, the Thomson Reuters “Super Lawyer” designation is, in my view, something of a tarnished honor (at best), because it is so plainly a money-making venture by the prize-giver, given literally at the expense of the prize recipients. Not so with the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) Civil Trial Specialist […]
Thomson Reuters (“TR”) has informed me that I have been selected as a “Super Lawyer” this year. In fact, TR told me months ago but then it “embargoed” the information for several months. Believe me: it’s been HELL sitting on this huge news. (What is the embargo about? It is about notifying the thousands (literally) of “Super Lawyers” and […]
After college but before law school, Hennepin County Judge Susan M. Robiner ran a ski school near Louisville, Kentucky. She also waited on a lot of tables in her youth. Navigating black diamond ski trails and dealing with impatient and hungry patrons might have been good training for a Hennepin County trial judge. Then came over a […]
This week’s Monday post drew attention to a footnote in a legal brief. This got me thinking about footnotes. For those of you interested in trivia, the related Jeopardy answer is: “Footnote 4, Carolene Products.” (The question: What is the most famous footnote in 20th century U.S. legal literature?) (That footnote says, in part, “There may be […]
For years, Analog Techonologies Corp. has been fighting with its former employee Edward Knutson and the company he formed after leaving Analog, Dimation. It has gone badly from Mr. Knutson and for Dimation. And, this week, it’s gone worse. The image you see above is a “ball grid array,” (“BGA”) in part — tiny balls of solder […]
With every decided motion in every lawsuit, there is a winner and a loser. In some cases, one party is the loser serially, in a lot of motions over the span of the litigation. (In some cases, lawyers get the feeling that it’s personal. “The judge hates me,” they might think to themselves. Advice: “It’s […]