HELLMUTH & JOHNSON LAW FIRM OF THE MONTHTABLE OF Contents GEOTECHNICAL CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS ENVIRONMENTAL BUILDING TECHNOLOGY PETROGRAPHY/CHEMISTRY www.amengtest.com 800.972.6364 12 6 Legal Diversity: 30 Years in the Trenches By Jerry W. Blackwell 7 Bending Toward Justice: The Black Experience in the Minnesota Judiciary By Judge JaPaul J. Harris 10 Personal Presidential (Intellectual) Property By Z. Peter Sawicki and James L. Young 12 Hellmuth & Johnson Law Firm of the Month 17 Lawyer Well-Being: A Multi-Faceted Movement By Bree Buchanan 18 Your Firm’s 2020 Legal Marketing Plan By Brian Craig SPECIAL SECTIONS 20 Upcoming Events 21 Talk of the Town AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com 3Hello again, Minnesota legal com- munity. Welcome to the most re- cent issue of Attorney at Law Mag- azine Minnesota. Thanks to all who have provided insights, support, and content. This issue delivers our cover story about the leadership of Hellmuth & Johnson law firm. Having just celebrated its 25th an- niversary, the firm has embraced its place as a midsized, locally owned firm, with no grand plans to become a mega firm or part of a national brand. Be sure to check out their story on page 12. And, in honor of Black History Month, this issue provides two perspectives on Minnesota legal black history. One presentation is from the perspective of the Bench, written by Judge JaPaul J. Harris. The other perspective from private practice attorney, and founder of MABL, Jerry Blackwell. I hope you enjoy their timely input. This month, we also continue our ongoing conversation about attorney wellness with contributor Bree Buchanan. We are, of course, interested in hearing from you regarding sto- ries about top legal practitioners and feature-worthy firms, innova- tive legal leadership, and about successful solo practices. NEXT GENERATION SPECIAL ISSUE! In May, we will publish our special issue focusing on emerging young practitioners that are shaping the legal community in our annual Next Generation issue. Please email or call me regarding involvement in this special issue. Thanks for reading, David Seawell PUBLISHER 763-742-2805 DSEAWELL@ATTORNEYATLAWMAGAZINE.COM FROM THE Publisher Attorney at Law Magazine is published by: Target Market Media Publications Inc. David Seawell PRESIDENT & CEO INSIGHT MEDIA, INC. EXECUTIVE PUBLISHER ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE Howard LaGraffe VICE PRESIDENT Caitlin Keniston EDITOR Jaqueline Dávila GRAPHIC DESIGN Z. Peter Sawicki James L. Young CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Jerry Blackwell Bree Buchanan Brian Craig Judge JaPaul J. Harris H.K. Wilson CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Eclipse Productions PHOTOGRAPHY Copyright ©2020, Target Market Media all rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is strictly prohibited. Advertising rates on request. Bulk third class (standard) mail. Although every precaution is taken to ensure accuracy of published materials, Attorney at Law Magazine & Target Market Media cannot be held responsible for opinions expressed or facts supplied by authors. Corporate Office : 5828 North 7th Street, Suite 200 Phoenix, AZ 85014 Phone (480) 219-9716 www.tmmpublications.com • info@tmmpublications.com TARGET MARKET MEDIA TARGETMARKETMEDIA Northern Alabama | Atlanta | Chicago | Dallas | Ft. Lauderdale Jacksonville | Los Angeles | Miami | Minnesota North Carolina Triangle | Ohio | Philadelphia | Phoenix | San Antonio Salt Lake City | Middle Tennessee | Washington D.C. ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · MINNESOTA · V OL. 9 NO. 2 4What’s in a name? Everything. To get the most out of it, you’ve got to own it, manage it and enforce it. At Patterson Thuente, we’ve got your back through it all. Because securing a trademark isn’t simply a transaction. It’s a testament to our belief in the power of ideas and commitment to protecting our business clients’ intellectual property. Call 612.349.5740 or visit PTSLAW.com and watch us deliver. Ideas. Owned.® ™More than a few of those leading diversity efforts in our profes- sion are strangers to relatively recent history. That history can teach important lessons in an ethnically un- representative legal community that is still nearly 80% white and that still lags nearly all professions nationwide in minority inclusion. Much of our legal profession’s groundbreaking in diversity – its “firsts” – is so new that you can literal- ly call and have lunch with living his- tory. To name a few: our first Supreme Court Justice of color (Alan Page); the first Federal Judge of color (Michael Davis); our first Asian American Judge and first Asian federal mag- istrate (Tony Leung); the first Black State Bar President (Jarvis Jones); the first Hispanic Appellate Judge (Peter Reyes); our first American Indian federal magistrate judge and only the second in the nation (Leo Brisbois); the first attorney of color to start at a majority firm and ascend to partner- ship at that firm (Diane Butler, Dorsey and Whitney, around 1990); the first LGBTQ Supreme Court Justice (Mar- garet Chutich); the first U.S. Attorney (B. Todd Jones), and the first person of color to head an institutional law firm (Don Lewis). Much of this and other progress occurred in the 1990s, a kind of a Golden Era in the life of Minnesota’s unfinished agenda known as diver- sity. It was during this time that a small group of roughly a dozen law- yers from African American, Asian, Latino, and American Indian back- grounds – all friends and largely from large law firms – came together col- lectively to change the existing land- scape of diversity in Minnesota. This group created the Twin Cit- ies Committee on Minority Lawyers in Large Law Firms (TCC) around 1990, the first organized effort in large Minnesota law firms to prioritize di- versity, and that effort came from the minority associates up and not from large law firm management down. The TCC devoted itself to hiring and retention strategies in law firms, and it also created the Minnesota Minor- ity Job Fair, bringing to Minnesota employers “qualified” minority candi- dates from around the country. Members from this coterie started the Minnesota Minority Corporate Counsel Program to provide inter- views and to further corporate hir- ing opportunities for lawyers of color. They were also among the proponents of the elimination of bias CLE re- quirement that followed on the heels of the very important Minnesota Su- preme Court Task Force on Racial Bias (1993). Between 1990 and 2000, lawyers from this small group of diverse attor- neys went on to become the founders of every major ethnic bar association in the State – the African American, Asian, Latino, and American Indian Bar Associations. Two things were salient in these efforts: (1) the net progress was transparent and demon- strable; and (2) the entire legal com- munity was engaged in both the col- lective efforts and in the evaluation of what did and did not work. I have seen major changes in diver- sity over the past 30 years. The chang- es do not lend themselves to binary conclusions, as in, do we have cause to celebrate or not, because there is room for both. A thirsty man is ca- pable both of noting when his glass should be full and yet celebrates what- ever drops he has. The first major change is the ad- vent of Twin Cities Diversity in Prac- tice (TCDIP) in 2005. With TCDIP emerging as the epicenter of diver- sity efforts in the State, the action of diversity has shifted from largely at- torneys of color as the protagonists to now largely white attorneys from large law firms and corporations. This has been good for prioritizing diver- sity conversations and publicity that raises the profile. A virtual explosion of awards, celebrations and programs has followed. And while awareness is greater over decades ago, a good thing, the trans- parency and accountability around demonstrable progress have suffered. The publishing of data on hiring and promotions at law firms – the real di- versity – is not as transparent as it was in the 1990s where minority hiring data was published every year. That data aids the entire community in seeing past the celebrations to better understand what is working, where, and why based on results, and yields a better informed sharing and support for progress. The second change is in the growth and development of the ethnic bar as- sociations from the Mother progeni- tor of them all, the Minnesota Minor- ity Lawyers Association. Like siblings who grow up and leave home, the as- sociations are not as close in collabo- rations as we once were decades ago under the one umbrella. I see the ben- efit of still coming together regularly around our common agendas. JERRY W. BLACKWELL IS THE FOUNDER OF BLACK- WELL BURKE P.A. HE IS ALSO A FOUNDER OF THE MINNESOTA ASSOCIA- TION OF BLACK LAWYERS AND OF THE TWIN CITIES COMMITTEE ON MINORITY LAWYERS IN LARGE LAW FIRMS. LEGAL DIVERSITY: 30 YEARS IN THE TRENCHES BY JERRY W. BLACKWELL HEBRON GIRMA PHOTOGRAPHY ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · MINNESOTA · V OL. 9 NO. 2 6“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward jus- tice.” In the Minnesota judicia- ry, the moral arc has been long yet has bent toward justice. IMPACT BEFORE THE BENCH Before there were African Ameri- cans on the bench in Minnesota there were pioneering attorneys and events that shaped the African America ex- perience in Minnesota. It is fitting to begin any discussion about Minneso- ta legal black history with the events in Duluth Minnesota for which we will celebrate the centennial in June 2020. On June 14, 1920, six young African American boys in Duluth Minnesota were arrested and charged with as- saulting a 19-year-old white woman. In the early morning of June 15, a mob of 5,000-10,000 people converged on the jail and took Issac McGhee, Elmer Jackson, and Elias Clayton from their jail cell and lynched them by hanging them on light poles on First Avenue in Duluth for all to see. In the aftermath of this atrocity, W. T. Francis, a black attorney, helped write and pass Min- nesota’s anti-lynching law in 1921, the first such law in the United States. In addition, the NAACP hired three at- torneys, including Charles Scrutchin, one of the first black attorneys to practice outside of the Twin Cities to represent the accused. There were no convictions for the lynching deaths. Historically, the relationship be- tween African Americans and the majority community has been tur- bulent at best, and African American attorneys have been at the forefront of navigating this turbulence. In the 1900s, Frederick McGee, the first African America lawyer in the state worked with W.E.B. DuBois to form the Niagara Movement, the precursor to the N.A.A.C.P. In the 1930s, Lena O. Smith, the first African American woman lawyer sued Minneapolis to redress housing discrimination for the benefit of African American. In 1971, the Minneapolis Chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. sued the Minneapolis school district alleging racial segrega- tion. See Booker v. Special Sch. Dist. No. 1. In 2015-2016, after the shoot- ings of Jamar Clark and Philando Castile, the Black Lives Matter move- ment shined a light on the intersec- tion of race and the justice system, and changed the dialogue about what it means to seek justice. THE SELF-REFLECTION OF THE MINNESOTA JUDICIARY Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, “[i]t is the mark of a maturing legal system that it seeks to understand and to implement the lessons of history. See Pena v. Colorado, 137 S. Ct. 855, 869 (2017). In the Minnesota courts there was one lesson of history that we can all agree upon, racial bias is omnipresent. In December 1990, Minnesota Su- preme Court created the Task Force on Racial Bias in the Judicial System, which was chaired by Associate Su- BENDING TOWARD JUSTICE: THE BLACK EXPERIENCE IN THE MINNESOTA JUDICIARY BY JUDGE JAPAUL J. HARRIS AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com 7 HEBRON GIRMA PHOTOGRAPHYpreme Court Justice Rosalie Wahl, and charged with con- ducting an investigation into whether there were specific conduct that cause unfairness on people of color in the Minnesota court system. This was an unprecedented dive into racial bias in the judicial system including nine public hearing, input for 261 judges, and over 4,000 attorneys. Minnesota was the 14th state to convene a Racial Bias Taskforce. On June 10, 1993, the taskforce issued its 355-page final report which identified racial bias issues in the Minnesota legal community and made over 130 recommendations that served as a blueprint for how to move forward. The Racial Bias Task Force examined criminal, civil, family, and juvenile law areas, the collected data on treatment of litigants and witnesses, hiring practices within the court system, and treatment of people of color. On the day the report was released, the Minnesota Su- preme Court established the Implementation Commit- tee on Multicultural Diversity and Racial Fairness in the Courts, chaired by Justice Alan Page and Judge Tanya Bransford. The Implementation Committee was charged with implementing the Racial Bias Task Force recom- mendations and monitoring the progress. In 2006, the Court created the Racial Fairness com- mittee, an advisory committee to the Minnesota Judicial Council which was charged with the continued imple- mentation of the Race Bias Task Force’s final report. In 2010, the Racial Fairness Committee and Gender Fair- ness Committee were consolidated to form the Commit- tee for Equality and Justice, an advisory committee to the Minnesota Judicial Council with the mission of advanc- ing efforts to eliminate bias from court operations, pro- mote equal access to the court, and inspire a high level of trust and public confidence in the Minnesota Judicial Branch. Through all the triumphs and setbacks of African Americans in the Minnesota legal community, it is clear that, through self-reflection, the legal community con- tinues to mature. It continues to seek understanding and implementation of the lessons of history to bend the moral arc toward justice. THE MINNESOTA AFRICAN AMERICAN BENCH “The life of the law has not been logic: it has been expe- rience.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes The history of African Americans in the Minnesota judiciary is a history of African Americans adding their experience to the Minnesota judiciary. This history began on January 6, 1958 when L. Howard Bennett was sworn in as the first African America Judge in Minnesota history. Governor Orville Freeman appointed him to the munici- pal bench in 1957 after Bennett led the local branch of the NAACP and the Urban League. The progress that Judge Bennett represented turned into a setback, when, two years after being the first African American appointed to the bench he was defeated in his election bid. MINORITY AND FEDERAL JUDGES AT MINORITY JUDGE RECEPTION IN 2018. HEBRON GIRMA PHOTOGRAPHY ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · MINNESOTA · V OL. 9 NO. 2 8In 1967, Governor Harold LeVander appointed Ste- phen L. Maxwell to the municipal court and then to the district court bench in Ramsey County, making him the first African American to serve as a district court judge in Minnesota. Judge Maxwell also became the first Afri- can American judge to win an election. In 1973, William Poston was appointed to the district court bench. Judge Poston was the third African American appointed to the bench and was celebrated as a pioneer in victim rights when he allowed a rape victim to select the punishment for her assailant. The experience of African Americans on the Minne- sota bench is an experience of firsts. In 1983, Pamela Al- exander became the first African American female judge in Minnesota. In 1990, Judge Alexander would be at the forefront of the drug sentencing disparities debate when she ruled the sentencing disparities between crack cocaine and powder cocaine violated the equal protection clause at the very time when she was very much in the running to become a federal court judge. On Jan. 4, 1993, Alan Page became the first-ever African American to be serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Justice Page’s journey to the Supreme Court was by elec- tion in 1992, and he needed to litigate over his right to be included on the ballot and become the first African American on the Minnesota Supreme Court. See Page v. Carlson, 488 N.W.2d 274 (Minn. 1992). On March 28, 1994, Judge Michael Davis became the first African American appointed a judge to the United States District Court for the District of Minne- sota. In 2008, Judge Da- vis became first African American Chief Judge for the District of Minnesota. On March 13, 1995, Judge Edward Toussaint Jr, was the first African American to be appointed the Minnesota Court of Appeals. Judge Toussaint was also the first African American Workers Compensation Court of Appeals judge. Judge Toussaint was appointed Chief Judge of the Minnesota Court of Ap- peals in 1995 by Governor Arne Carlson. In 2012, Judge Wilhelmina Wright became the first Af- rican American female appointed as a Justice of the Min- nesota Supreme Court. In 2015, Justice Wright would become the first African American female appointed a judge to the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. On June 3, 2002, Natalie Hudson became the first African American female appointed to the Min- nesota Court of Appeals. On Oct. 26, 2015, Judge Hudson become the third African American to join the Minnesota Supreme Court. As African Americans expand our roles in the Minne- sota courts, we have continued to experience being the first. In 2001, Judge Joseph Carter became the first African American appointed in Dakota County. In 2009, Judge James Cunningham became the first African American appointed in Anoka County. In 2019, Judge Juanita Free- man became the first African American ap- pointed in Washington County. As I write this, I am sure that there are notable events and people that that I have neglected, judges that have presided over significant cas- es, and events that have shaped the trajectory of African Americans in the Minnesota judiciary. It’s important to see courtrooms reflect the communities they serve. The Minnesota judiciary has, over history, moved to- ward reflecting the in- creasing diversity of the state. The history of the African Americans in the Minnesota judiciary is one of excellence. African Americans have often had reasons to feel suspicious about the system. While there are reasons to feel suspicious about the system, there is more reasons to feel proud of the accomplishments of the Black judiciary. There are currently 17 African American judges on the state bench, and we continue to make strides. However, we desire a day when we are no longer celebrating historic “firsts” for African Americans in the Minnesota Judiciary. THE HONORABLE JAPAUL J. HARRIS WAS AP- POINTED TO THE SECOND JUDICIAL DISTRICT IN RAMSEY COUNTY, MINNESOTA BY GOV. MARK DAYTON IN 2018. JUDGE HARRIS SERVED AS A JUDICIAL REFEREE IN THE HENNEPIN COUNTY FROM 2012 TO 2018. JUDGE HARRIS SERVES AS A MEMBER OF THE MINNESOTA SUPREME COURT COMMITTEE FOR EQUALITY AND JUSTICE, AS THE CHAIR OF THE EDUCATION COMMITTEE. JUDGE HARRIS IS A 2000 GRADUATE OF SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY, AND 2003 GRADUATE OF HAMLINE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW. JUDGE HARRIS COMPLETED A HUMPHREY IN- STITUTE PUBLIC POLICY FELLOWSHIP AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA HUMPHREY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS. MINNESOTA ASSOCIATION OF BLACK LAWYERS AFFINITY BAR LEADERSHIP. THE HISTORY OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE MINNESOTA JUDICIARY IS A HISTORY OF AFRICAN AMERICANS ADDING THEIR EXPERIENCE TO THE MINNESOTA JUDICIARY. AttorneyAtLawMagazine.com 9Next >