Category: Law

BREATHE WHILE YOU CAN

JUNE 7, 2020 – If relaxed curfews now allow us to catch our collective breath, we’re not out of the woods yet.  We might well be facing more serious danger ahead—too little reform too late; another case of overt police brutality; some other flashpoint, starting with the prosecution of the four Minneapolis cops. All four …

THE TIME TO ACT: NOW!

MARCH 28, 2020 – The full financial fallout from Corvid-19 is currently unknowable. What’s foreseeable, however, is a tsunami of mortgage defaults. Depending on when the contagion dissipates, the blowout of real estate values will keep us in a major post-corvid-19 recession. In addition to other pressing concerns of responsible governance, governors and legislators must …

INJUSTICE ‘N’ JUSTICE

FEBRUARY 9, 2020 – When I was in law school, I had a legal-writing professor whose class was a real downer.  At the outset of every session, he’d walk to the chalkboard, pick up a stick of chalk and write across the board, “THERE IS NO JUSTICE IN THIS WORLD.”  I thought this was a …

PEP TALK

DECEMBER 19, 2019 – Earlier this week I had a spirited conversation with each of four lawyers, including a current sitting district court judge and a retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice. One exchange was over an impromptu lunch; the others were in downtown Minneapolis skyways. I’ve known each of these people for years, having practiced …

SCHOOLED BY A(N IMMIGRANT) CLIENT

DECEMBER 18, 2019 – A few years ago I was asked to represent a faction of a local mosque, whose members were Somali immigrants.  They claimed they’d been ousted from the board and other positions by a competing faction that had resorted to illegal methods, aided by the local police. After extensive interviews, thorough examination …

GOLF LAW: WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND (PART III OF III)

OCTOBER 20, 2019 – Fast forward two years. Another client, from Florida, had just bought out of bankruptcy, a short-line railroad running from a small manufacturing town 60 miles west of the Twin Cities to a railyard in Minneapolis.  He hadn’t acquired the railroad for its freight-hauling business.  He’d bought it for all the “sleeper” …

GOLF LAW: WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND (PART II OF III)

OCTOBER 19, 2019 – (cont.) I’ll never forget the settlement meeting that ensued.  The developer was owned by two brothers who’d immigrated from Italy years before.  The older brother had been a tank commander in North Africa under Rommel’s command in World War II.  Of the Renowned Club principals in the room, one was a founder, …

RELICS OF THE PAST (PART I OF III)

JULY 12, 2019 – Recently I moved my offices from the Flour Exchange Building to the TriTech Center, two blocks closer to the center of downtown Minneapolis. What prompted the move was a big rent hike. The new space is fresh, “high-tech,” splashy, and appealing, especially to hipsters . . . like me. It even …

THE “OPEN AND SHUT” CASE

MAY 29, 2019 – Occasionally a client wants me to sue the pants off someone. The client is as indignant as can be over a business deal gone bad. The opposing side, he says, is dumb, lying and crazy. The client is so worked up s/he starts in the middle of the story, then travels …