< PreviousAn elderly Somali man pur- chased an out-of-stock de- vice at an electronics store. Ten days later when he had not received a call, the customer inquired about his pur- chase. The manager told him, “Your purchase was picked up by someone who looked like you,” and refused to provide the product or refund the money. Word is getting around about Legal Aid’s new legal clinic in the Cedar- Riverside neighborhood, and the cus- tomer went there for help. The clinic’s Staff Attorney Ahmed Madey, who is fluent in Somali and Swahili, tried unsuccessfully for two weeks to nego- tiate directly with the store manager. “Now I am not negotiating,” said Madey on his final message. “Give this gentleman back his money or we are going to court. That is not the way to treat a customer. Were you saying that all Somali people look the same? Or that because he doesn’t speak Eng- lish, he can’t have his money back? You have one day to make this right.” Later that afternoon, the client called Madey to report that he had re- ceived a full refund. In 2016, businessman Tom Gross- man expressed outrage so Legal Aid’s Executive Director about discrimina- tion impacting the local East African community. He wanted to send a message to newcomers that they have support in the Twin Cities. The Pat and Tom Grossman Family Fund of the Minnesota Community Founda- tion funded Legal Aid’s first East Afri- can Legal Clinic at Isuroon, and it was wildly successful. “I worked with the folks at Legal Aid on this idea of embedding a law- yer in the community, where attor- neys could quickly build relationships and trust,” Grossman says. “After the first year of the first clinic, two things were obvious: 1) it was doing some good and 2) one clinic couldn’t do as much good as needed to be done.” The Grossman Fund is now spon- soring a second clinic, where Madey sees walk-in clients two and a half days a week at Pillsbury United Communi- ties’ Brian Coyle Center. He then col- laborates with other attorneys at the downtown office. “Here at Legal Aid, we have so many legal minds,” Madey says. “I’m familiar with immigration law from my previ- ous work in private practice, but hous- ing law is new to me. The foundation of the law is the same, but I have the rich opportunity to learn from the ex- perience of my colleagues.” Madey sees a wide range of prob- lems from as many as ten clients in a day. In addition to legal representa- tion, he reviews documents, trouble- shoots, and explains procedures and systems. Sometimes he just listens. “My passion is helping people,” he says. “This is an opportunity to do work that I love and get paid for it. For immigrants to have a lawyer who speaks their language and can tell them what steps to take, that’s a big help. I take one case at a time, one individual at a time. That is my goal – to change my world one person at a time.” Together, Madey and Grossman bring the resource of legal representa- tion to people who might not other- wise know how to access a lawyer, or even understand that the law can help them solve their problems. “The clinics are having extremely successful quantifiable results,” says Grossman. “Often when we give to charity, we hope we’re doing some good and the world’s a better place. But with these clinics, I can see the in- dividual effects on individual people who I believe would not be served otherwise. That is extremely satisfy- ing.” MID-MINNESOTA LEGAL AID PROVIDES FREE CIVIL LEGAL ADVICE AND REPRE- SENTATION TO MINNESOTANS WHO CAN- NOT AFFORD AN ATTORNEY. LEGAL AID SERVES PEOPLE WITH LOW INCOMES IN 20 COUNTIES AND PEOPLE WITH DISABIL- ITIES STATEWIDE. Effective Community Engagement, One Client at a Time BY LEYKN SCHMATZ My passion is helping people. This is an opportunity to do work that I love and get paid for it. For immigrants to have a lawyer who speaks their language and can tell them what steps to take, that’s a big help.AWARDS ANNOUNCEMENTS PRESS RELEASES EVENTS PROMOTIONS ACTIVITES HONORS RECOGNITIONS TALK TOWN of the Attorney Devlan Sheahan has joined Moss & Barnett’s con- struction law team, as- sisting businesses and individuals in con- struction disputes and litigation. Henson Efron has announced attorneys Jeff Shea and Sarvesh Desai have joined the business law group. Shea has over 30 years of real estate law expe- rience. Desai concentrates on general business, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property and securities. Hellmuth & Johnson is pleased to welcome attorneys Heidi Bassett, Alex Mueller and Katherine Her- man to the firm. Bassett is a litigation and appellate attorney, specializing in banking, business, real estate, and construction. Mueller’s practice is concentrated on copyright, trade- mark, and media law. Herman prac- tices principally in the areas of ap- peals, class action litigation, complex litigation, and business litigation. Melissa Muro LaMere, attorney in Maslon’s labor & employment and litigation groups, has been appointed to the Hispanic National Bar Associa- tion’s Latina Commission. Henson Efron is pleased to announce at- torney Scott Neilson has been named a 2019 Acritas Star. The Acri- tas Stars database is a client-nominated list of stand-out lawyers in private practice. DeWitt LLP has announced attor- SUBMIT PRESS RELEASES FOR NEXT MONTH’S TALK OF THE TOWN AT WWW.ATTORNEYATLAWMAGAZINE.COM/SUBMIT-TOT/ Dave Seawell, Publisher | Minnesota Edition | (763) 742-2805 | DSeawell@AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com neys Nathan J. Nelson and Alex W. Johnson joined its Minneapolis office in the business and estate planning practice areas. Nelson, a corporate and estate planning attorney, joins the firm as a partner. Johnson, a real es- tate attorney, joins the firm as an as- sociate. Maslon LLP has an- nounced the addition of estate planning at- torney Jennifer Elston to the law firm. Elston develops comprehen- sive estate plans for her clients. Anju Suresh has joined Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP as an associate in the Minneapolis office. Suresh represents clients in a wide variety of business disputes and transactions. She also handles a range of employment law matters. Moss & Barnett has announced that Garrett M. Weber has joined the firm’s intellectual property and busi- ness law teams. Weber proactively works with businesses to distinguish their products and services and to po- sition them for growth. His expertise ranges from trademarks, branding, advertising and marketing, to com- plex contracts and transactions, li- censing and technology. Eckberg Lammers, P.C. is pleased to announce the election of two new shareholders, Joe Van Thomme and Lida Bannink. Van Thomme is a lead attorney in the firm’s criminal prose- cution group. Bannink is the lead at- torney in the firm’s labor & employ- ment group as well as a litigator in the firm’s business and individual law groups. Briggs and Morgan has joined the Taft law firm, founded in 1885. With the addition of Briggs, Taft is now comprised of more than 600 lawyers across 11 U.S. offices, primarily locat- ed in the Midwest. Larry Rocheford has joined Lommen Abdo as shareholder. He has successfully de- fended catastrophic in- jury and major cases, including products, mass shootings, construction, negli- gence, dram shop, motor vehicle and premises liability cases from start to trial. The combination of Lathrop Gage and Gray Plant Mooty into Lathrop GPM went into effect Jan. 1, 2020. Lathrop GPM is a national law firm with nearly 400 attorneys and 14 of- fices from coast to coast. Merchant & Gould P.C. has achieved Mansfield Rule Certifica- tion after completing a 12-month self-study designed to boost the rep- resentation of diverse lawyers in firm leadership. Maslon LLP has announced that attorneys Larina Alton, Melissa Muro LaMere, Tom Pack, and Jon Septer have been elected to the law firm’s Partnership, effective January 1, 2020. The law firm of Gil- bert Alden has changed its name to Gilbert Al- den Barbosa, PLLC. This name change re- flects the transition of Beth Barbosa from partner to one of the named partners of the firm. Barbosa joined Gilbert Alden in 2017 bringing over 18 years of family law experience to the firm. Devlan Sheahan Sarvesh Desai Jennifer Elston Larry Rocheford Beth Barbosa Scott Neilson AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com 21LEVERAGING MINDFULNESS IN LAWYERING The American Bar Association col- laborated with the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation in a nationwide study of approximately 15,000 at- torneys from 19 states. The findings were dismaying, if not surprising: 19 percent of licensed, practicing at- torneys exhibit symptoms of anxiety, 21 percent drink excessively, and 28 percent struggle with some form of depression. Lawyers are at higher risk of alcohol abuse and suffer more sig- nificant mental health distress than other professional populations. The best option for some lawyers is to seek professional assistance from an orga- nization such as Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers. While there is no quick fix for routine daily stress, mindful- ness can help lawyers reduce stress and improve performance. MINDFULNESS OVERVIEW Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present in the moment without being overly reactive or overwhelmed by what is happening around us. In ad- dition to reducing stress, mindfulness can improve problem-solving and focus, increase creativity and energy, and foster empathy. THE MINDFUL LAWYER The mindful lawyer is rooted and focused in the tasks and objectives of the present moment, deploying critical thinking skills to execute with clarity, creativity, and commitment to colleagues and clients. 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