Articles

Fixing a Hole: The Fritz defense revisited

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James Poradek and Luke Grundman

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Sep 01, 2021

Minnesota courts have erected a draconian procedural barrier that makes it impossible for many tenants to have their day in court: a “pay to defend” requirement that forces eviction defendants to deposit unpaid back rent with the court as a precondition for trial on the defense that the landlord has violated its legal obligation to maintain the property in habitable condition.

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Evictions

Discovery: Reinventing the request for admissions

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Eliot T. Tracz

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Sep 01, 2021

Nearly every young litigator knows that RFAs are a tool used to narrow the number of disputed issues in a case. While that can certainly be done when bundled with other written discovery, the inherent versatility of RFAs really comes through when they are unbundled and allowed to stand on their own.

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Litigation

The ghost of water wars future: The Great Lakes Compact and the coming freshwater crisis

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Jeremy P. Greenhouse

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Aug 04, 2021

As climate change and population growth place mounting strain on U.S. water supplies, it is not hard to imagine a scenario in which politicians from water-starved states, faced with struggling agricultural irrigation systems and angry, thirsty voters, propose a Mao-inspired water diversion project to “borrow” water from the Great Lakes.

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Environment and Natural Resources Law

Immigration roundtable: The Biden administration so far

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R. Mark Frey

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Aug 04, 2021

Following four years of upheaval under the Trump administration, President Joe Biden took office in January promising stabilization and reform of the U.S. immigration system. Bench & Bar contributor R. Mark Frey—who writes the bimonthly immigration law updates for our Notes & Trends section—recently assembled a panel of his fellow Minnesota immigration attorneys to discuss in writing the legacy of the Trump years and the early moves of the Biden administration. What follows is an edited version of their exchange.

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Features

2021 legislative session recap: A long and winding road

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Bryan Lake

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Aug 04, 2021

The 2021 session was notable for a record-low number of bills passed, but lawmakers still managed to enact numerous new laws of interest to the legal community, including...

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Legislative

MSBA President 2021-22: Jennifer Thompson

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Amy Lindgren

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Jul 01, 2021

When it comes to Jennifer Thompson, it seems that everyone has a story to tell. Now, as the incoming president of the Minnesota State Bar Association, Thompson will undoubtedly generate more stories, even as she maintains the delicate equilibrium between work, home, and service to the legal profession.

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President
Features

Family law: The covid chronicles

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Traci Capistrant

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Jul 01, 2021

In my practice area, the pandemic has had multiple stages. Let’s hope we’re almost done with them all. Family law and its practitioners needed to step up to address rapidly changing issues affecting all families during the pandemic.

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Family Law
COVID-19
Features

We live not alone: A legacy of environmental racism

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Jessica Intermill

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Jul 01, 2021

This is the second installment of a two-part article exploring structural bias and racism within the law in the context of the Line 3 oil pipeline expansion. Part 1, published last month, examines the agency approval process and the role of the public in that process. Part 2 explores the racialized impact of that facially neutral approval in the context of Minnesota’s legal history.

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Public Utilities
Features

Exchange

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Jul 01, 2021

A letter to the editor from Enbridge concerning part 1 of Jessica Intermill’s article on structural bias/racism in the law and the Line 3 pipeline approval.

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Letters to the Editor
Features

A Death in the Family: How one firm forged ahead after a partner’s unexpected passing

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Morgan Kavanaugh and Christopher Johnston

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May 26, 2021

It’s the call no lawyer ever wants to get: A friend and colleague in your law firm has unexpectedly passed away. In January 2020, we got that call. Our friend and senior partner at the firm, Kyle Hegna, died tragically in a snowmobile accident.

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Professional Responsibility
Practice Management
Features

Covid, 'long covid,' and workers compensation

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Robb P. Enslin

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May 26, 2021

The workers’ compensation system will be dealing with coronavirus-spawned claims for a long time to come

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COVID-19
Labor and Employment
Features

Anatomy of a Misreading

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Hannah Martin

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May 26, 2021

On March 24, 2021, the Minnesota Supreme Court issued its decision in State v. Khalil, reversing and remanding a third-degree criminal sexual conduct charge that involved a mentally incapacitated or physically helpless complainant. News and social media got the point all wrong.

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Court Opinions
Features

When the Public Interest Isn’t: Minnesota’s approval of a new Line 3

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Jessica Intermill

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May 26, 2021

This is the first installment of a two-part article exploring structural bias and racism within the law in the context of the Line 3 oil pipeline expansion. Part 1 examines the agency approval process and the role of the public in that process.

Full story

Public Utilities
Features

Working with infertility and IVF

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Ashleigh Leitch

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May 26, 2021

Because of the stigma historically associated with infertility and pregnancy loss, many people remain unaware that these experiences are relatively common.

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Labor and Employment
Features

Competent but compromised: Representing clients on the spectrum between mental health and mental illness

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Jennifer L. Thompson

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Apr 05, 2021

Just as dissolution clients are screened for domestic violence, it is prudent to screen all clients for mental health issues that might go beyond personality traits or mere quirks. Knowing what to look for and how to respond can save your relationship with your client.

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Well-Being
Features

Cohabitation and spousal maintenance revisited: Sinda v. Sinda and the state of the law

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KATHLEEN M. NEWMAN

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Apr 05, 2021

In 2016 Minnesota’s spousal maintenance statute was changed to add cohabitation as a reason to modify spousal maintenance. In practice, did the addition of cohabitation as a basis to modify spousal maintenance change the way courts analyze a modification request based on the case law surrounding cohabitation?

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Family Law
Features

Practicing with grace: Covid-19 and the coming eviction crunch

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MANAIRE VAUGHN

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Apr 05, 2021

To truly understand the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, we must look at all covid-related legal issues with a systemic lens and be open to creative problem solving. It’s hard to think of an area in which this is more emphatically true than with respect to the impending tsunami of eviction filings once federal and local moratoria are rescinded.

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Housing
Features

Legal aid in a pandemic: Notes from the front lines

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LILO SCHLUENDER

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Apr 05, 2021

Working in civil legal aid is challenging in good times; working as a civil legal aid attorney in a global pandemic has felt like a Sisyphean undertaking. For the past 12 months, our practice has evolved from poverty lawyers to humanitarian crisis advocates.

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Legal Aid
Features

Momentum builds for changes to Predatory Offender Registry

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Stacy L. Bettison

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Apr 05, 2021

In late January, the Minnesota Legislature received the final report of the Criminal Sexual Conduct Working Group charged with recommending changes to the criminal sexual conduct statute. For over 13 months the working group—comprising victims/survivors, advocates, prosecutors, law enforcement, and criminal defense attorneys—met to consider a multitude of proposed changes to the law, designed primarily to strengthen the criminal statute.

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Criminal Law
Features

Colleague Corner: Meet Michael Fondungallah

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Apr 05, 2021

Michael Fondungallah, a native of Cameroon, received a bachelor’s degree in law and a graduate degree in business law from the University of Yaounde. After migrating to the United States in the 1990s, he earned his JD from the William Mitchell College of Law in 2001. His practice is focused on immigration and employment law.

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Colleague Corner

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Fixing a Hole: The Fritz defense revisited (?)

James Poradek and Luke Grundman (?)

Sep 01, 2021

Discovery: Reinventing the request for admissions (?)

Eliot T. Tracz (?)

Sep 01, 2021

The ghost of water wars future: The Great Lakes Compact and the coming freshwater crisis (?)

Jeremy P. Greenhouse (?)

Aug 04, 2021

Immigration roundtable: The Biden administration so far (?)

R. Mark Frey (?)

Aug 04, 2021

2021 legislative session recap: A long and winding road (?)

Bryan Lake (?)

Aug 04, 2021

MSBA President 2021-22: Jennifer Thompson (?)

Amy Lindgren (?)

Jul 01, 2021

Family law: The covid chronicles (?)

Traci Capistrant (?)

Jul 01, 2021

We live not alone: A legacy of environmental racism (?)

Jessica Intermill (?)

Jul 01, 2021

Exchange (?)

(?)

Jul 01, 2021

A Death in the Family: How one firm forged ahead after a partner’s unexpected passing (?)

Morgan Kavanaugh and Christopher Johnston (?)

May 26, 2021

Covid, 'long covid,' and workers compensation (?)

Robb P. Enslin (?)

May 26, 2021

Anatomy of a Misreading (?)

Hannah Martin (?)

May 26, 2021

When the Public Interest Isn’t: Minnesota’s approval of a new Line 3 (?)

Jessica Intermill (?)

May 26, 2021

Working with infertility and IVF (?)

Ashleigh Leitch (?)

May 26, 2021

Competent but compromised: Representing clients on the spectrum between mental health and mental illness (?)

Jennifer L. Thompson (?)

Apr 05, 2021

Cohabitation and spousal maintenance revisited: Sinda v. Sinda and the state of the law (?)

KATHLEEN M. NEWMAN (?)

Apr 05, 2021

Practicing with grace: Covid-19 and the coming eviction crunch (?)

MANAIRE VAUGHN (?)

Apr 05, 2021

Legal aid in a pandemic: Notes from the front lines (?)

LILO SCHLUENDER (?)

Apr 05, 2021

Momentum builds for changes to Predatory Offender Registry (?)

Stacy L. Bettison (?)

Apr 05, 2021

Colleague Corner: Meet Michael Fondungallah (?)

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Apr 05, 2021

Fixing a Hole: The Fritz defense revisited

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James Poradek and Luke Grundman

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Discovery: Reinventing the request for admissions

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Eliot T. Tracz

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The ghost of water wars future: The Great Lakes Compact and the coming freshwater crisis

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Jeremy P. Greenhouse

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Immigration roundtable: The Biden administration so far

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R. Mark Frey

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2021 legislative session recap: A long and winding road

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Bryan Lake

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MSBA President 2021-22: Jennifer Thompson

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Amy Lindgren

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Family law: The covid chronicles

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Traci Capistrant

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We live not alone: A legacy of environmental racism

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Jessica Intermill

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Exchange

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A Death in the Family: How one firm forged ahead after a partner’s unexpected passing

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Morgan Kavanaugh and Christopher Johnston

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Covid, 'long covid,' and workers compensation

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Robb P. Enslin

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Anatomy of a Misreading

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Hannah Martin

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When the Public Interest Isn’t: Minnesota’s approval of a new Line 3

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Jessica Intermill

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Working with infertility and IVF

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Ashleigh Leitch

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Competent but compromised: Representing clients on the spectrum between mental health and mental illness

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Jennifer L. Thompson

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Cohabitation and spousal maintenance revisited: Sinda v. Sinda and the state of the law

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KATHLEEN M. NEWMAN

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Practicing with grace: Covid-19 and the coming eviction crunch

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MANAIRE VAUGHN

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Legal aid in a pandemic: Notes from the front lines

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LILO SCHLUENDER

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Momentum builds for changes to Predatory Offender Registry

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Stacy L. Bettison

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Colleague Corner: Meet Michael Fondungallah

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