Minnesota Lawyer Blog

I recently came across a disturbing website connected to the Stanbury Law Firm, P.A., run by Minneapolis lawyer Alfred Stanbury. The site asks visitors if they’ve been injured when removing a Pampered Chef knife from its sharpening case – but that’s not what’s alarming.

Stanbury's site features such things as a mock traffic sign stating “Warning: Muslims nearby” in which there is a silhouette of a person with a knife in one hand and a severed head dripping blood in the other.

Interestingly, Stanbury was co-counsel a while ago in a case with attorney John Dehen, who is running for a judicial seat against incumbent Judge Robert Varco in the 10th Judicial District. Dehen and Stanbury were involved in a nuisance suit against Dehen’s elderly neighbors, according to Anoka attorney Joan Quady, who represented the neighbors. The case has since settled. Dehen has also been involved in Pampered Chef knives cases, one of which led to a public reprimand for violating a court order regarding the use of information obtained in discovery. Dehen hasn’t returned several phone calls seeking comment

Obviously Stanbury has the right to put anything up on the Web. But voters in the 10th District should remember, as our mothers used to say, that you are known by the company you keep, or kept.

I had the pleasure of stopping by the sixth Annual “Attractive Nuisance Tour” at the Fine Line Music Cafe last Friday evening. The tour is always a great legal community event with an excellent objective -- raising money for the Minnesota Justice Foundation and the Hennepin County Bar Foundation. Over its five year lifespan, the event has raised more than $200,000 for these worthwhile causes.

The Attractive Nuisance Tour features music from an array of bands – each of which includes at least one member who is from the local legal community. The festivities last Friday were led off with the all-lawyer band “Noisy Withdrawal.” (For more on the band, click here.) I had the chance to chat with three of members of band – Laurie Hartman, Steve Beck and Ryan Johnson. When they are not practicing their music, all three of these bandmates can be found practicing law at Fredrikson & Byron.

Below is a clip of “Noisy Withdrawal’s” performance at Friday's fun-filled event along with a few comments from the above band members.



Click here to see this clip on YouTube.

The Associated Press and the St. Paul Pioneer Press have reported that Anoka County District Court Judge Donald Venne has been charged with four gross misdemeanors for failing to pay all his taxes from 2003 to 2006.

The Minnesota Department of Revenue reported today that the Dakota County attorney's office filed the charges.

The criminal complaint filed Friday alleges Venne owes the state more than $3,100. It also says the state has had to take action to recover his taxes for the 2002 and 2003 tax years.

His lawyer, Doug Kelley, has said the judge was not trying to avoid paying his taxes, and that the needed tax returns are being prepared.

For the past several weeks, Hennepin County District Court Judge Deborah Hedlund, who is running for the Supreme Court seat currently held by Justice Lorie Gildea, has been challenging her opponent to forgo using the “incumbent” designation on the November ballot.

In August, Golden Valley Jill Clark -- who also ran for the spot but didn’t make it through the primary -- brought a formal court challenge that among other things, also sought to strike the incumbent designation from judicial ballots. Clark’s petition was unsuccessful, but like Hedlund, she continues to request that Gildea voluntarily drop the label.

I met with Gildea last week and asked her to address the request. In response, she relied on the statute that discusses the incumbent designation, Minnesota Statute 204B.36, subd. 5, which says “the word ‘incumbent’ shall be printed after that judge's name as a candidate.”

“The statute that the Legislature has written is directed to election officials,” Gildea said. “And the statute says what the election officials are to include on the ballot. It says [they] ‘shall’ [include the incumbent designation], and shall means shall. Also it’s the truth, I am the incumbent in this race.”

She makes a very good, perhaps irrefutable, point. (The statute is silent about a candidate’s ability to opt out of using the designation.)

I understand that Minnesota is one of only a few, if not the only, state that includes the “incumbent” designation on the ballot in judicial races. If we are going to stick with the election system for choosing judges in Minnesota, perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate that requirement. At a minimum, it would be interesting to hear some discussion on the idea.

If you are a fan of Boston Legal, you may see a few familiar faces on Monday's episode. Local attorneys and brothers, Harry, Mike, Bill and John Sieben will all make a cameo appearance.

The Sieben brothers, originally from Hastings, were given the opportunity to appear on the episode titled “Dances with Wolves” after expressing their fondness for the series to former Hastings resident and Hollywood Producer Trent Broin, according to a press release.

The Siebens are, of course, well-known personal injury lawyers when they are not hobnobbing with the Hollywood elite. They report the cast was cordial, and that actor James Spader even expressed an interest in their professional lives.

For the final installment in our five-part video series on the Hennepin County District Court races, we present a clip of Judge James Swenson. Swenson, who was appointed to the bench in 1995, faces a challenge from Hennepin County referee Thomas Haeg.

In this clip from the Sept 22 Hennepin County Bar Association's judicial candidates' forum, Swenson discusses some of the challenges facing his court and how he has dealt with them during his time on the bench.



For the other installments in this series, click bellow:
Part I: Judge Philip Bush
Part II: David Piper
Part III: Jane Ranum
Part IV: Thomas Haeg

For part four of our five-part video series on the Hennepin County judicial races, we present Hennepin County referee Thomas Haeg. Haeg has been a referee in the District Court since 1976. He is running against incumbent Judge James Swenson.

In this video clip from the Hennepin County Bar Association's judicial candidates' forum on Sept. 22, Haeg discusses his qualifications for the judicial seat for which he is running.




You can also view this clip on YouTube by clicking here. To see the prior three installments in this video series, click here (part I), here (part II) and here (part III).)

In the previous post, we report the results of the Minnesota State Bar Association poll for the statewide appellate races. The following are the results of the Bar poll for the contested local District Court races. The polling was conducted in conjunction with local bar groups.

1st Judicial District

The incumbent, Judge Joseph Carter, handily beat Rice County prosecutor Nathaniel J. Reitz 91.5 percent (43 votes) to 8.5 percent (4 votes). Minnesota Lawyer has a story on this race in its upcoming edition.

2nd Judicial District (Ramsey County)

In the race for the seat left vacant by the retirement of Judge John Finley, Hennepin County prosecutor Howard Orenstein squeaked by Children’s Law Center of Minnesota executive director Gail Chang Bohr 51 percent (234 votes) to 49 percent (228 votes). This race, which pits a well-known former state lawmaker against a popular nonprofit executive/ attorney is turning out to be a nail biter.

3rd Judicial District

Incumbent Judge Lawrence E. Agerter prevailed over Burnsville attorney Anthony J. Mossbrugger 75.5 percent (40 votes) to 24.5 percent (13 votes).

4th Judicial District (Hennepin County)

• Incumbent Judge Philip D. Bush trounced challenger Alan Eugene Link 97 percent (1,015 votes) to 3 percent (30 votes). Link has declined to furnish information about his candidacy, including his photo, and was the only candidate not to participate in the Hennepin County Bar Association’s debate.
  
• In the race for the seat left vacant by the retiring Judge Thomas Wexler, family court referee David Piper fetched 59.5 percent (622 votes) to Hennepin County prosecutor Jane Ranum’s 40.5 percent (424 votes);
  
• Incumbent Judge James T. Swenson received 78 percent (836 votes) to District Court referee Thomas F. Haeg’s 22 percent (234 votes)

8th Judicial District

Incumbent Judge Randall Slieter outpolled challenger Glen M. (Jake) Jacobsen 84 percent (31 votes) to 16 percent (6 votes).

10th District

There are two contested District Court races in the 10th District, but the 10th District Bar chose not to participate in the polling.

For more information on the judicial elections, go to Minnesota Lawyer's online Judicial elections guide, which you can access by clicking here.

The Minnesota State Bar Association has released the results of its plebiscite in which members are polled on the judicial races. The following are the results for the statewide seats that will be on the ballot in November.

There were no surprises in the race that pits 15-year Minnesota Supreme Court veteran Justice Paul Anderson against 9th Judicial District referee Tim Tingelstad. The well-known justice trounced Tingelstad, receiving 92 percent of the vote (i.e. 2,229 votes of 2,417 cast) from participating lawyers.

In the other Supreme Court race on the ballot, Lorie Skjerven Gildea, who was appointed to the high court by Gov. Tim Pawlenty in 2005, received 72 percent of the vote (1,703 of 2.377 cast). Gildea’s challenger, Hennepin County District Court Judge Deborah Hedlund, got 28 percent of the vote, which is actually not a bad showing in the MSBA poll, where the incumbent tends to do very well. Hedlund has made the central focus of her campaign her lengthy experience as a trial court judge. It’s highly unusual in Minnesota for a trial court judge to challenge a sitting justice for a high court seat, so this race is being closely watched. As Minnesota Lawyer will report in its upcoming edition, Gildea leads Hedlund in another important respect – funds raised. Gildea’s campaign reports taking in about $35,000 so far. Meanwhile, Hedlund’s campaign reports only $600 in contributions.

In the one contested Court of Appeals race, Terri J. Stoneburner, who joined the court eight years ago, received an impressive 92 percent of the vote (2,175 of the 2,375 votes cast). Her opponent, International Falls attorney Dan Griffith, has made two prior bids for a judgeship.

Continuing with our five part video series on the Hennepin county judicial races (click here and here for the prior installments), today we bring you Hennepin County prosecutor Jane Ranum, who is one of two candidates running to fill the seat left vacant by the forthcoming retirement of Judge Thomas Wexler. (The other candidate is Hennepin County District Court referee David Piper.) Ranum is a former state senator.

In this clip, Ranum discusses why voters should pick her to fill the open seat.



Click here for the YouTube version of this video.

Attention budding law students: You've gotta start somewhere.

A good first step for great future great legal (and non-legal) minds is the two-day Fall National College Fair, starting today at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The fair is expected to draw 25,000 high school students and their parents, who will visit booths representing more than 75 public and private two- and four-year college and universities from all over the United States.

The fair lets students and parents meet one-on-one with admission representatives and will learn about admission requirements, financial aid, course offerings, and campus environment, as well as other information pertinent to the college selection process.

As the parent of a high-school junior, I can tell you that events like this are valuable for learning about a wide array of higher-education options all at once.