Articles

When the Public Interest Isn’t: Minnesota’s approval of a new Line 3

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Jessica Intermill

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May 26, 2021

This is the first installment of a two-part article exploring structural bias and racism within the law in the context of the Line 3 oil pipeline expansion. Part 1 examines the agency approval process and the role of the public in that process.

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Public Utilities
Features

Working with infertility and IVF

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Ashleigh Leitch

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May 26, 2021

Because of the stigma historically associated with infertility and pregnancy loss, many people remain unaware that these experiences are relatively common.

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Labor and Employment
Features

Competent but compromised: Representing clients on the spectrum between mental health and mental illness

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Jennifer L. Thompson

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Apr 05, 2021

Just as dissolution clients are screened for domestic violence, it is prudent to screen all clients for mental health issues that might go beyond personality traits or mere quirks. Knowing what to look for and how to respond can save your relationship with your client.

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Well-Being
Features

Cohabitation and spousal maintenance revisited: Sinda v. Sinda and the state of the law

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KATHLEEN M. NEWMAN

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Apr 05, 2021

In 2016 Minnesota’s spousal maintenance statute was changed to add cohabitation as a reason to modify spousal maintenance. In practice, did the addition of cohabitation as a basis to modify spousal maintenance change the way courts analyze a modification request based on the case law surrounding cohabitation?

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Family Law
Features

Practicing with grace: Covid-19 and the coming eviction crunch

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MANAIRE VAUGHN

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Apr 05, 2021

To truly understand the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, we must look at all covid-related legal issues with a systemic lens and be open to creative problem solving. It’s hard to think of an area in which this is more emphatically true than with respect to the impending tsunami of eviction filings once federal and local moratoria are rescinded.

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Housing
Features

Legal aid in a pandemic: Notes from the front lines

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LILO SCHLUENDER

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Apr 05, 2021

Working in civil legal aid is challenging in good times; working as a civil legal aid attorney in a global pandemic has felt like a Sisyphean undertaking. For the past 12 months, our practice has evolved from poverty lawyers to humanitarian crisis advocates.

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Legal Aid
Features

Momentum builds for changes to Predatory Offender Registry

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Stacy L. Bettison

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Apr 05, 2021

In late January, the Minnesota Legislature received the final report of the Criminal Sexual Conduct Working Group charged with recommending changes to the criminal sexual conduct statute. For over 13 months the working group—comprising victims/survivors, advocates, prosecutors, law enforcement, and criminal defense attorneys—met to consider a multitude of proposed changes to the law, designed primarily to strengthen the criminal statute.

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Criminal Law
Features

Colleague Corner: Meet Michael Fondungallah

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Apr 05, 2021

Michael Fondungallah, a native of Cameroon, received a bachelor’s degree in law and a graduate degree in business law from the University of Yaounde. After migrating to the United States in the 1990s, he earned his JD from the William Mitchell College of Law in 2001. His practice is focused on immigration and employment law.

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Colleague Corner

Democracy goes to court: Litigating voting rights and election administration in Minnesota in 2020

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By George W. Soule & Anna Veit-Carter

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Mar 01, 2021

Minnesota political parties, voter organizations, voters, and election officials fought in court over many aspects of voting and elections. The lawsuits continued after the election, contesting the results of several Minnesota races. This article will review the key Minnesota legal battles over voting and elections in 2020.

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Litigation
Features

What would a discipline office do? Examining the high-profile complaints against election attorneys from a lawyer regulatory perspective

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WILLIAM J. WERNZ

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Mar 01, 2021

It’s no surprise that a presidential election as bitterly fought as last November’s should also yield a lot of litigation—and a striking volume of complaints from lawyers regarding the conduct of other lawyers. Although many lawyers were involved in the electoral challenges, the spotlight here is on complaints regarding four prominent lawyers.

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Professional Responsibility
Litigation
Features

It only sounds like common sense: Why repealing the seat belt evidence rules serves no public purpose

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Genevieve M. Zimmerman, Patrick Stoneking, & Joel D. Carlson

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Mar 01, 2021

Eliminating Minnesota’s long-standing seat belt evidence rule, as recently promoted in one Bench & Bar article, would result in the largest windfall to negligent drivers and their insurance companies that lawmakers could ever give them.

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Personal Injury
Features

TODD: A game-changer from the 8th Circuit

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Sam Calvert

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Mar 01, 2021

In early February the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion that should horrify anyone who has prepared a transfer-on-death deed (TODD) for a client.

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Features
Estate Planning

Construction law: Covid-19 forces contractors to examine AIA agreements

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Taylor Stemler

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Mar 01, 2021

This essay was the first-place winner in the MSBA Construction Law Section’s 2020 writing competition.

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Construction Law
Features

Jury Trials in the Covid-19 Era

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Kristi J. Paulson

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Feb 01, 2021

What to expect as courts work to deliver justice through the rest of the pandemic. September marked the first civil jury trials to take place in Minnesota’s court system since the start of the pandemic; two trials proceeded in Hennepin County on the same floor on the same day. Those two cases were tried to verdict and demonstrated that, with proper care and precautions, justice could go forward.

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Courts
COVID-19
Features

Supreme Court Says No Pay Can Still Play: Abel v. Abbott Northwestern Hospital is a step forward for employees’ rights

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Thomas E. Marshall

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Feb 01, 2021

The Minnesota Supreme Court’s July 2020 opinion in Abel v. Abbott Northwestern Hospital represents a win for employees at several levels: through its broad acceptance of the continuing violations theory at the Rule 12 stage of proceedings; by eliminating “compensation” as a necessary element in the definition of “employee” under the Human Rights Act; and in its affirmation of a duty to protect employees and students from known foreseeable conduct.

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Employment and Labor Law
Features

New covid-19 relief legislation amends Bankruptcy Code

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George H. Singer

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Feb 01, 2021

In response to the continuing crises brought on by the covid-19 pandemic, Congress recently passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA). The amendments to the Bankruptcy Code are briefly summarized in this article.

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COVID-19
Bankruptcy
Features

We all need it at some point: The MSBA’s proposal for family and medical leave at court

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Christine B. Courtney

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Feb 01, 2021

In the summer of 2020, the MSBA convened a working group of attorneys and judges to draft amendments to various Minnesota rules that would allow attorneys to request a continuance of a court proceeding in the event of the attorneys’ temporary inability to represent the client due to a health condition; the birth or adoption of a child; or the need to care for a spouse, dependent, or parent who has a serious health condition.

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Features

New covid-19 relief legislation amends Bankruptcy Code

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George H. Singer

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Jan 12, 2021

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Bankruptcy
Features

The Case of the Accidental Landlord: Why Minnesota’s eviction moratorium needs fixing

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Joel Van Nurden

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Jan 04, 2021

The current eviction moratorium, with all its good intentions, has caused unjust harm to landlords, particularly nonprofessional or “accidental” landlords. The governor should rescind Executive Order 20-79 and either replace it with something similar to the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) nationwide eviction moratorium or, better yet, simply let the CDC’s moratorium take effect in Minnesota.

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Features

Click it or zip it: It’s time to rethink the seat-belt gag rule

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Michael T. Burke & Brandon D. Meshbesher

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Jan 04, 2021

States like California, Wisconsin, New York, Iowa, and Michigan all allow seat belt evidence to be presented to civil juries, and there is no reason that Minnesota cannot or should not do the same.

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Features
Personal Injury

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When the Public Interest Isn’t: Minnesota’s approval of a new Line 3 (?)

Jessica Intermill (?)

May 26, 2021

Working with infertility and IVF (?)

Ashleigh Leitch (?)

May 26, 2021

Competent but compromised: Representing clients on the spectrum between mental health and mental illness (?)

Jennifer L. Thompson (?)

Apr 05, 2021

Cohabitation and spousal maintenance revisited: Sinda v. Sinda and the state of the law (?)

KATHLEEN M. NEWMAN (?)

Apr 05, 2021

Practicing with grace: Covid-19 and the coming eviction crunch (?)

MANAIRE VAUGHN (?)

Apr 05, 2021

Legal aid in a pandemic: Notes from the front lines (?)

LILO SCHLUENDER (?)

Apr 05, 2021

Momentum builds for changes to Predatory Offender Registry (?)

Stacy L. Bettison (?)

Apr 05, 2021

Colleague Corner: Meet Michael Fondungallah (?)

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Apr 05, 2021

Democracy goes to court: Litigating voting rights and election administration in Minnesota in 2020 (?)

By George W. Soule & Anna Veit-Carter (?)

Mar 01, 2021

What would a discipline office do? Examining the high-profile complaints against election attorneys from a lawyer regulatory perspective (?)

WILLIAM J. WERNZ (?)

Mar 01, 2021

It only sounds like common sense: Why repealing the seat belt evidence rules serves no public purpose (?)

Genevieve M. Zimmerman, Patrick Stoneking, & Joel D. Carlson (?)

Mar 01, 2021

TODD: A game-changer from the 8th Circuit (?)

Sam Calvert (?)

Mar 01, 2021

Construction law: Covid-19 forces contractors to examine AIA agreements (?)

Taylor Stemler (?)

Mar 01, 2021

Jury Trials in the Covid-19 Era (?)

Kristi J. Paulson (?)

Feb 01, 2021

Supreme Court Says No Pay Can Still Play: Abel v. Abbott Northwestern Hospital is a step forward for employees’ rights (?)

Thomas E. Marshall (?)

Feb 01, 2021

New covid-19 relief legislation amends Bankruptcy Code (?)

George H. Singer (?)

Feb 01, 2021

We all need it at some point: The MSBA’s proposal for family and medical leave at court (?)

Christine B. Courtney (?)

Feb 01, 2021

New covid-19 relief legislation amends Bankruptcy Code (?)

George H. Singer (?)

Jan 12, 2021

The Case of the Accidental Landlord: Why Minnesota’s eviction moratorium needs fixing (?)

Joel Van Nurden (?)

Jan 04, 2021

Click it or zip it: It’s time to rethink the seat-belt gag rule (?)

Michael T. Burke & Brandon D. Meshbesher (?)

Jan 04, 2021

When the Public Interest Isn’t: Minnesota’s approval of a new Line 3

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Jessica Intermill

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Working with infertility and IVF

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Ashleigh Leitch

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Competent but compromised: Representing clients on the spectrum between mental health and mental illness

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Jennifer L. Thompson

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Cohabitation and spousal maintenance revisited: Sinda v. Sinda and the state of the law

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KATHLEEN M. NEWMAN

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Practicing with grace: Covid-19 and the coming eviction crunch

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MANAIRE VAUGHN

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Legal aid in a pandemic: Notes from the front lines

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LILO SCHLUENDER

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Momentum builds for changes to Predatory Offender Registry

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Stacy L. Bettison

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Colleague Corner: Meet Michael Fondungallah

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Democracy goes to court: Litigating voting rights and election administration in Minnesota in 2020

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By George W. Soule & Anna Veit-Carter

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What would a discipline office do? Examining the high-profile complaints against election attorneys from a lawyer regulatory perspective

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WILLIAM J. WERNZ

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It only sounds like common sense: Why repealing the seat belt evidence rules serves no public purpose

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Genevieve M. Zimmerman, Patrick Stoneking, & Joel D. Carlson

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TODD: A game-changer from the 8th Circuit

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Sam Calvert

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Construction law: Covid-19 forces contractors to examine AIA agreements

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Taylor Stemler

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Jury Trials in the Covid-19 Era

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Kristi J. Paulson

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Supreme Court Says No Pay Can Still Play: Abel v. Abbott Northwestern Hospital is a step forward for employees’ rights

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Thomas E. Marshall

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New covid-19 relief legislation amends Bankruptcy Code

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George H. Singer

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We all need it at some point: The MSBA’s proposal for family and medical leave at court

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Christine B. Courtney

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New covid-19 relief legislation amends Bankruptcy Code

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George H. Singer

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The Case of the Accidental Landlord: Why Minnesota’s eviction moratorium needs fixing

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Joel Van Nurden

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Click it or zip it: It’s time to rethink the seat-belt gag rule

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Michael T. Burke & Brandon D. Meshbesher

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