LGN Partner David Zoll joined a panel of land use experts with the Sensible Land Use Coalition to discuss comprehensive planning. David’s presentation focused on the potential implications of pending litigation which could subject local planning activities to new challenges in the courts.
LGN Law Clerk Abby Ward recently authored a blog post inspired by her experience at the firm working on a pro bono criminal expungement case. Her blog post originally appeared on the Minnesota Law Review's website and can be read in full below.
KEEP ROLLING: AFTER PROVIDING AUTOMATIC EXPUNGEMENT FOR CERTAIN MARIJUANA OFFENSES MINNESOTA SHOULD ENACT AUTOMATIC EXPUNGEMENT FOR OTHER CRIMINAL RECORDS
The racially discriminatory impact from the War on Drugs is clear,[1] and while marijuana legalization is one step in addressing the inequities of America’s criminal justice system, the work does not end there. States should also enact broader expungement reforms. This 2023 session, Minnesota is likely going to legalize recreational marijuana.[2] The current House bill (Cannabis Bill) would automatically expunge[3] lower offenses of marijuana use after an individual meets certain requirements.[4] As state legislatures increasingly consider recreational marijuana legalization, activists argue those bills must include proposals to help people easily expunge their records, like the Cannabis Bill provision.[5] As a result, marijuana legalization is a groundbreaking area for criminal justice reform and should be utilized to advance other criminal record reform.[6]
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LGN Government Relations team members Peter Glessing, Reen Reinhardt, and Dan Larson attended the Citizens League Civic Celebration last night. LGN was proud to be a sponsor of the event and is proud of our firm’s involvement in the Citizens League Capitol Pathways Program—the only paid internship program in the state that opens a legislative policy career pathway for BIPOC college students.
Congratulations to the LGN Associates for hitting 100% participation and surpassing the firm’s goal for giving to the 2022-23 Legal Aid Associates’ Campaign! LGN raised $4,305.04, beating the firm’s overall giving record to the Campaign! The Campaign as a whole raised $126,359, providing crucial support for Legal Aid services in the coming year. LGN Associates will be honored at the Legal Aid Law Day Dinner in May.
Our firm invites you to join us in raising funds for Neighborhood House, a St. Paul-based multi-service agency that has helped immigrant and refugee families since 1897. Neighborhood House has become a full-service hub for those seeking assistance with basic needs, from food to housing, as well as helping create future opportunities through family coaching and education programming. LGN is proud to have supported this work for over a decade.
Each March, Neighborhood House raises money and collects healthy, fresh, and culture-appropriate foods for its diverse group of more than 16,000 annual visitors. These donations are critical in allowing these visitors to maintain their dignity, health, and culture during a challenging time in their lives.
Like many other food shelves across the metro, Neighborhood House is seeing increased visits from the same families and more new faces visiting its two free food markets. Added challenges such as inflation, food availability, and economic hardships have continued to plague families who were already struggling. More Minnesotans were dependent on food shelves and food stamps in 2022 than the previous years.
You can help support Neighborhood House and its mission to serve our community by donating at this link: https://give.neighborhoodhousemn.org/LGN
Thank you for considering helping Neighborhood House continue its legacy of giving to those in the community who have the greatest need.
LGN government relations professionals and attorneys recently attended Women Winning’s Wine, Chocolate, & Choice event, which is one of the largest events for Minnesota advocates for choice and women’s leadership. LGN was proud to sponsor the event.
Women Winning’s mission is to encourage, promote, support, and elect pro-choice women of all political parties to all levels of public office.
LGN attorneys were thrilled to atttend the Minnesota Lawyers Attorneys of the Year event at the Hyatt Regency on February, 15 2023. Attorneys Arielle Wagner, Kate Baxter-Kauf, and Kristen Marttila were honored for their work on a pro bono appeal with the Minnesota Appellate Public Defender’s Office that resulted in the overturn of a conviction after an illegal stop. LGN congratulates all the honorees and is thrilled to work alongside such great lawyers.
To learn more about the pro bono appeal that Arielle, Kate, and Kristen successfully litigated, click here.
LGN Partner Kristen Marttila filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws (COSAL) in the District of Columbia’s appeal to the D.C. Court of Appeals in its monopoly complaint against Amazon.
COSAL argued that the district court misapplied Twombly and the Rule 8 standard when it held that because the District had not specifically identified the first-party or third-party sellers who were Amazon’s counterparts in its scheme to eliminate competition in the online sales market, the complaint was not sufficiently plausible to survive a motion to dismiss. The brief explained that, if allowed to stand, the district court’s ruling will jeopardize both public and private enforcement efforts against powerful monopolists like Amazon, whose sellers avoid confrontations with Amazon at all costs, out of fear for their livelihoods. The brief drew on COSAL members’ expertise representing plaintiffs in private antitrust actions to elaborate on the fear of retaliation that can deter those affected by anticompetitive conduct to come forward, and discussed evidence in the congressional record that such fears were particularly well-founded and well-documented with respect to Amazon.
Ms. Marttila chairs COSAL’s amicus committee. Also representing COSAL in this matter were Jessica Kahn, at Fine Kaplan and Black, and Vicky Sims, partner at Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca and the amicus committee’s vice chair.
For more than thirty years, COSAL has promoted and supported the enactment, preservation, and enforcement of a strong body of antitrust laws in the United States, primarily through effective private enforcement. LGN is a founding member of COSAL and LGN lawyers have been instrumental in COSAL’s leadership and ongoing advocacy.
Lockridge Grindal Nauen celebrates this February 1st as the beginning of Black History Month, and honors the immeasurable contributions and achievements Black Americans have made to our country and the world. At the same time, LGN acknowledges that every month is Black History Month, and Black history is an integral part of our country’s history every month. Carter G. Woodson, who founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, which established Black History Month, emphasized the importance of providing a theme of focus for Black History Month, since the intention has never been to dictate or limit exploration but to focus the public on important developments in Black history that merit emphasis. The Association has called on all of us to study the history of Black Americans’ efforts to establish safe spaces through the 2023 theme Black Resistance. More information and resources are available here. #BlackHistoryMonth
