News

LGN Ranked a Metropolitan Tier 1 Law Firm for Minneapolis by Best Lawyers®

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Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P. is proud to announce that our firm has been ranked a Metropolitan Tier 1 law firm for Minneapolis by Best Lawyers® in the following practice areas: Environmental Law, Environmental Litigation, Labor & Employment Litigation, Mass Tort Litigation & Plaintiff Class Actions, and Plaintiff Product Liability Litigation. Congrats to all our attorneys and staff who helped us achieve this distinction, as well as the individual attorneys who were named to the Best Lawyers in America® list! For more information on the U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” rankings, please visit the “Best Law Firms” website.

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Dan Larson Named LGN Director of Government Relations

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Daniel Larson

The litigation and lobbying firm Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P. announced today that Dan Larson is the firm’s new Director of Government Relations.

“We are pleased to announce that Dan is assuming the leadership of the firm’s government relations team. Dan has been a steady and trusted leader for our firm and our clients for many years,” said LGN Partner Charlie Nauen. “Dan will build upon the success of our firm’s government relations practice of more than 40 years as he leads the premier team in the state.”

Dan has extensive experience in government relations. Before being elected to the Minnesota legislature, he worked for four years as a member of the firm’s government relations team. He then served eight years in the Minnesota House of Representatives and two years in the Minnesota Senate. Dan returned to the firm in 2008, where he has been the Director of State and Local Government Affairs, providing leadership, management, and oversight of the firm’s state government relations team. He has legislative expertise in the areas of taxes, public health, technology, economic development, labor, pensions, and issues faced by tribal governments. Dan has close working relationships with members of the legislature, the governor’s office and administration, and city and county officials.

“With Dan’s wise counsel and intricate understanding of the legislature and political dynamics within the state, LGN clients will continue to be successfully represented at the Capitol as the legislature works to address the complex challenges facing our state during the 2023 Legislative Session and beyond,” said LGN Partner Ted Grindal. 

Dan is a former member of the American Cancer Society Leadership Board for Minnesota. As a cancer survivor, he was the inspiration for the creation of the Anti-Cancer Caucus and laid the foundation for its success. Dan has also been recognized by the public health community for his work on anti-smoking efforts.

For those wishing to contact Dan, he can be reached at dglarson@locklaw.com or 612-596-4013.

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LGN Senior Counsel Joe Bourne Selected by American Antitrust Institute as Honoree for Outstanding Antitrust Litigation Achievement by a Young Lawyer

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Joe Bourne

LGN Attorney Joe Bourne will be honored for his work on In re Pork Antitrust Litigation at the American Antitrust Institute’s Awards Night on November 9, 2022, in Washington, D.C. Joe was selected by a committee comprised of current and former private practitioners, government attorneys, and economists for his work in the Pork case. In that litigation, Joe has taken on a leading role in discovery of the defendants by all plaintiffs, discovery of the direct purchaser plaintiffs, coordinating discovery and court filings with all parties, briefing and arguing motions, and addressing the court at status conferences.

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LGN Attorneys Submit Amicus Brief on behalf of COSAL and AAI

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LGN attorneys Joe Bourne and Kristen Marttila, on behalf of the Committee to Support the Antitrust Laws (COSAL), along with Randy Stutz on behalf of the American Antitrust Institute (AAI), submitted an amicus brief to the Ninth Circuit today in support of the plaintiffs in Sidibe v. Sutter Health, a certified class action that was tried to a jury. 

The plaintiffs in the litigation below claimed they paid supracompetitive prices for health insurance premiums because of Sutter Health’s anticompetitive conduct. The plaintiffs alleged Sutter Health violated the federal and California antitrust laws when it forced health plans to negotiate with its hospitals on a systemwide (rather than hospital-by-hospital) basis beginning in the late 1990s or early 2000s and to accept anticompetitive provisions in its contracts. 

In their brief, COSAL and AAI argue that the district court erred in excluding certain pre-class period evidence that was contemporaneous with the defendant’s consideration and implementation of the challenged restraint of trade. This exclusion was error because evidence regarding the history of the restraint and the reasons for its adoption are relevant to the jury’s assessment of a Sherman Act claim, and is independently sufficient to demonstrate a violation under California’s Cartwright Act. The brief also argues that the district court erred in allowing the jury to consider evidence of market power and market definition from the perspective of the individual insured, rather than from the perspective of the health plans, which the Ninth Circuit and other courts of appeal have recognized are the actual payors within the healthcare marketplace.

LGN is a longtime member of COSAL, which was founded in 1986 to promote and support the enactment, preservation, and enforcement of a strong body of antitrust laws in the United States. Ms. Marttila serves as the vice-chair of COSAL’s amicus committee.

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LGN Partner Susan Ellingstad Co-Presents Federal Bar Association Seminar

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LGN partner Susan Ellingstad co-presented an hour-long seminar entitled FLSA Overview and Recent Developments to a nationwide audience of current and incoming federal law clerks. The event was part of the Federal Bar Association’s ongoing series developed by the Judiciary Division’s Federal Judicial Law Clerk Committee to help judicial clerks familiarize themselves with substantive areas of law they may encounter for the first time as clerks.

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LGN Partner Attends Celebration of Investiture of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson

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Partner Kristen Marttila represented LGN at a celebration of the investiture of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson hosted by Twin Cities Diversity In Practice and the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers. The event included a fantastic panel discussion with three Minnesota trailblazers, Justices Alan Page (ret.) and Natalie Hudson and Judge Pamela Alexander (ret.).

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LGN Attorney Rachel Kitze Collins Recognized by Minnesota Lawyer as One of its 2022 Diversity & Inclusion Award Honorees

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Rachel Kitze Collins

Congratulations to LGN Associate Rachel Kitze Collins who was recognized by Minnesota Lawyer as one of its 2022 Diversity & Inclusion Award honorees.  As Co-President of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Chapter of the American Constitution Society, Rachel helped plan and organize a virtual CLE titled, “What Every Lawyer Should Know About the Future of Transgender Student Rights,” which sought to educate lawyers about the challenges that transgender students face, the laws that protect them, and steps that schools and educators can take to protect these students. Rachel and the other CLE panelists were honored at an event on October 6 at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Learn more by following this link.

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LGN Attorneys attend Minnesota Urban Debate League Mayors Challenge 10th Anniversary Fundraiser

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Lockridge Grindal Nauen Attorneys were pleased to attend the Minnesota Urban Debate League Mayors Challenge 10th Anniversary Fundraiser: The Great NATO Debate on September 22.  LGN Partner Gregg Fishbein recently finished up a decades-long run as a founding member of the Board of Advisors, for which he was thanked during the event, and LGN Partner Kate Baxter-Kauf is a current member of the Board of Advisors.  The event featured a keynote from Governor Walz and First Lady Gwen Walz, a student debate and conversations with Mayor Melvin Carter of St. Paul and Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis, and a panel of ambassadors with attendance from Finland, Norway, and Sweden.  The MNUDL serves over 1000 students in the Twin Cities to provide and enhance debate programming and public schools for underserved communities.  LGN has sponsored the event each year since its founding.  

Pictured: Lockridge Grindal Nauen attorneys Gregg Fishbein and Kate Baxter-Kauf pose with the sign announcing LGN sponsorship and Kiernan Baxter-Kauf, current St. Paul Central debater.

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LGN Attorneys Attend Page Education Foundation Gala

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Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P. attorneys were thrilled to participate in and attend the 2022 Justice Forward Gala supporting the Page Education Foundation, which raised over $500,000 to support 250 Page Scholars.  LGN Partners Karen Riebel and Rebecca Peterson both sit on the board of the Page Education Foundation, which provides post-secondary scholarships to Minnesota students of color and requires those students to work with younger students as mentors.  LGN Partner Kate Baxter-Kauf and Associates Arielle Wagner and Develyn Mistriotti also attended the event, which was held at U.S. Bank Stadium and attended by hundreds of Twin Cities business, legal, and education leaders.

Pictured: LGN attorneys Kate Baxter-Kauf and Arielle Wagner are pictured with LGN alumnae Elizabeth Odette and Anna Horning Nygren.

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LGN Partners Receive Patriot Awards

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Left to Right: COL Doug Peterson, M.D., USA Retired and Virginia Peterson (Rebecca Peterson’s parents and Catherine Peterson’s aunt and uncle), Rebecca Peterson, Rob Shelquist, Catherine Peterson, John Kingrey, ESGR.

On August 24, 2022, LGN Partners Rob Shelquist and Rebecca Peterson each received Patriot Awards in recognition of their support of the National Guard and Reserve. They were nominated for this award by LGN attorney Catherine Peterson, who has served in the North Dakota National Guard since 2008. The award is given by the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) program, an office of the Department of Defense established to promote cooperation and understanding between Reserve Component Service members and their civilian employers. The award recognizes employers’ efforts to support citizen warriors by providing understanding and healthy work environments that offer flexible schedules, including time off for training and deployment.  

Cathy, who served in two deployments to the National Capital Region, in 2013-2014 and 2017-2018, is also an extremely talented lawyer and a vital member of LGN’s Product and Consumer Litigation team. During the awards ceremony, she thanked Rob and Rebecca for their support, noting that flexibility in her work schedule “is a huge stress reliever: employers take on a sacrifice when they employ members of the National Guard and Reserve who have commitments not only to their civilian job but also to the military. Employers and supporting colleagues and staff have to figure out a way to adapt when a Soldier has to leave. And Rob and Rebecca’s willingness to do this has made balancing my civilian job and military service very smooth.”

LGN is extremely proud of Cathy’s service and of Rob and Rebecca’s efforts to support her, and we wish Cathy the very best in her next deployment, which starts in October.