Minnesota Lawyer Blog

What's a lawyer to do when his client won't stop swearing? That's the question Chicago attorney Joseph R. Ziccardi is trying to get a federal judge to answer.

Ziccardi was hit with sanctions totaling over $29,000 by U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno after Ziccardi's client, Aaron Wider, managed to use the f-word (or variations thereof) 73 times during a deposition. Ziccardi didn't help his own cause by chuckling at his client's profanity and failing to discourage him to clean up his act. Ziccardi is now asking for permission to drop the client and begging for the sanctions to be lifted.

Wider's loose-tongued ways might sound excessive until you learn that the 73 f-bombs were dropped over the course of 12 hours' worth of depositions. What's one effenheimer every 10 minutes? The film Scarface contained the big daddy of cuss words 226 times in only two hours and 50 minutes.

We had a blog item last week about a controversy in the Wisconsin Attorney General's Office, equating it -- at least a bit -- to the recent controversy in the Minnesota Attorney General's office (see "Turmoil in AG’s office, but not ours this time"). But then an astute reader called in and asked, what about Ohio?

Far be it for us to ignore the Buckeye state, where lawmakers and the governor are talking about initiating impeachment proceedings against the state's AG. Unlike Minnesota, that situation involves a sexual-harassment scandal. (For one thing, Ohio AG Marc Dann acknowledged having an extramarital affair with a staff member whom he has refused to identify.) However, Dann's management of the office is also significant factor. An investigation found an office rife with inappropriate staff-subordinate relationships, heavy drinking and harassing and threatening behavior by a supervisor, according to the AP.

The Minnesota Supreme Court recently ruled that where an incorrect transcript of a statement the defendant made to police was introduced at trial, the defendant is nevertheless not entitled to a new trial in the interests of justice. The case, State v. Green, was handed down last week.

The case involved a particularly nasty issue -- whether a father improperly touched his 4-year-old daughter when he was helping her clean up after swimming in a lake. The jury, which ultimately convicted the defendant of both first- and second-degree criminal sexual conduct -- had received a transcript of the defendant's alleged conversation with police. According to the transcript, in response to the question, "Where did you put your fingers?" the defendant replied: “I suppose in.” Later the defense argued that the statement was “I suppose um.”

What’s disturbing is that the state conceded the transcript was erroneous, but argued that it was the defendant’s fault that it went in. The defendant was originally only charged with second degree criminal sexual conduct, which didn’t require penetration, so the defense attorney didn’t focus on that statement.

The court determined that the interests of justice didn’t require a new trial, essentially because there was other persuasive evidence against the defendant. (The court also noted the defense had use of the tape of the interview with police.)

Justice Paul Anderson, joined in dissent by Justice Helen Meyer, wondered what could be a stronger case for a new trial “in the interests of justice” than this one, where “the state’s transcription error changed a meaningless utterance into a confession of the defining element of the crime.”

A new trial would be expensive, but other than that I can’t see the downside of granting it. The burden to the state is a small price to pay to ensure a fair trial. And if the other evidence against the defendant really is so compelling, the state shouldn’t be reluctant to retry the case.

A much-lauded jurist will be elected today as chief judge of Hennepin County District Court. Judge James Swenson, who has served the last two years as assistant chief, was scheduled to be elected today without opposition. Judge Denise Reilly will succeed him as assistant chief.

Swenson has served on the bench since 1995 and is up for election in the fall. Last year he received the Foundation for Improvement of Justice 2007 Paul H. Chapman Award for his work in Family Court by promoting early resolution of cases involving children and families through strategies such as Early Case Management and Early Neutral Evaluation programs.

He has also received the Minnesota District Judges Association’s Award for Outstanding Service to the Judiciary and the Anne V. Simonett Award as the 4th Judicial District Employee of the Year for his work in developing alternative dispute resolution techniques.

Last night’s "Law Day" dinner was a really nice event.

More than 1,100 tickets were sold for the 27th Annual Law Day Testimonial Dinner, which benefits the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis. The event was sponsored by the Fund for the Legal Aid Society and the Hennepin County Bar Association.

Following a great dinner, a nice testimonial was made to Laura Cooper, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School who spent 24 years on the board of the Minneapolis Legal Aid Society and also served as its president.

The keynote speaker, Tom Goldstein (at right), co-head of the Supreme Court practice at Akin Gump, in Washington, D.C., gave attendees an “Insider’s View of the Supreme Court.” He stressed the importance of the upcoming presidential election to the makeup of the high court, pointing out that at least two of the more progressive justices will be retiring in the next four years -- John Paul Stevens and David Souter. It’s possible that left-leaning Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg may leave the court as well.

That means that if a Democrat makes it into the White House, the court will likely remain status quo, but that if a Republican gets in, the court will end up leaning even more heavily to the right that it currently does, Goldstein said. If you’re a progressive you should be worried; if you're a conservative, “party on!” he told the crowd.

Goldstein’s quip that Legal Aid lawyers will “do more good” than the Supreme Court will do this year also got a big laugh.

It was great to see such a large crowd show up to honor and celebrate the work of Minneapolis Legal Aid. My understanding is that it was the best turnout yet for the annual event -- and from what I could tell, people really enjoyed the evening.

It's Am Law 100 time again. But before we do the numbers, the folks at American Lawyer want you to know something: The Golden Age may be over.

Increased demand for high-end legal services and perpetual rate hikes has led to five consecutive years of better-than-average growth in revenue per lawyer and profit per partner among the top 100.

Good news, right? Well, American Lawyer points out that for the first time since 2001, the growth in law firm lawyers noticeably exceeded the growth in revenue per lawyer last year. Coupled with the recent decrease in deal activity, and those associate salary increases aren't sounding so good anymore.

Time will tell. In the meantime, here's how some Minnesota offices stacked up:

DLA PIPER
Home office: Decentralized
Ranking: 11
Gross revenues: $1.1 billion
Change from previous year: +11.7 percent, no change in ranking

MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS
Home office: Decentralized
Ranking: 12
Gross revenues:$1 billion
Change from previous year: +12.0 percent, no change in ranking

FULBRIGHT & JAWORSKI
Home office: Houston
Ranking: 37
Gross revenues: $ 649.5 million
Change from previous year: + 7.8 percent, down three spots

FISH & RICHARDSON
Home office: Decentralized
Ranking: 72
Gross revenues: $367.5 million
Change from previous year: +28.3 percent, up eight spots

DORSEY & WHITNEY
Home office: Minneapolis
Ranking: 73
Gross revenues: $367 million
Change from previous year: +11.4 percent, down one spot

LITTLER MENDELSON
Home office: San Francisco
Ranking: 87
Gross revenues: $305 million
Change from previous year: + 27.1 percent, up 14 spots

FAEGRE & BENSON
Home office: Minneapolis
Ranking: 94
Gross revenues: $284.5 million
Change from previous year: +14.7 percent, up four spots