LGN Sponsors Minnesota Urban Debate League Mayors Challenge

We were proud to sponsor and attend the 2024 Mayors Challenge fundraiser in honor of The Minnesota Urban Debate League (MNUDL) last week. Since 2012, the Mayors Challenge event has brought together education advocates from across the Twin Cities to celebrate and empower debate students. The event raised an impressive $162,087 in celebration of the MNUDL’s 20th anniversary.

The program featured an informative showcase debate discussing issues related to AI, the 2024-25 policy debate topic. Experts in AI and intellectual property rights served on the VIP panel. Other notable speakers included Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.

The keynote speaker was First Lady of Minnesota, MNUDL Board Member, and former speech & debate coach Gwen Walz. She shared:

“What educators and coaches work at, and dream of, is the possibility of transformation – for students to find their voices, to articulate their ideas, and to challenge, most of all, themselves. What we know about debate is that it does just that for students, and for all of us . . .

If ever there was a time to research and discuss and engage one another, it is now. If ever there was a time to support ideas with real information and real facts and real evidence, it is now.

Our hope is that our democracy looks much more like a debate team.”

LGN has been a longtime supporter of the Minnesota Urban Debate League. LGN partner Gregg Fishbein is a founding member of the Advisory Board, and LGN partner Kate Baxter-Kauf currently serves as incoming Vice Chair of the Advisory Board and volunteers at St. Paul Central. LGN attorneys Karen Hanson Riebel and Arielle Wagner, as well as state government relations specialist Jess Lindeen, also attended the event.

LGN Sponsors Wilderness Inquiry Great River Race

A team of LGN attorneys, government relations professionals, and close family members paddled a 24-foot canoe and raced down the Mississippi River on Saturday. The more than 5-mile canoe race was part of Wilderness Inquiry’s annual Great River Race. The event raised over $190,000 to fund outdoor opportunities for youth and families across Minnesota and beyond.

Wilderness Inquiry

Every fall, Wilderness Inquiry brings together hundreds of youth, paddlers, sponsors, volunteers, and community members to raise support and awareness for Canoemobile, a program to close the opportunity gap and create equitable pathways into the outdoors for youth of all backgrounds and abilities. The Canoemobile program works with more than 25,000 youth annually through a “floating classroom” to help improve school performance, cultivate a stewardship ethic, and create pathways to higher education and career opportunities in the outdoors.

You can learn more about Wilderness Inquiry including how to donate on their website

Laura Matson Selected as Up & Coming Attorneys Honoree by Minnesota Lawyer

LGN is proud to announce that associate Laura M. Matson has been named a 2024 Up & Coming Attorneys honoree by Minnesota Lawyer. Each year, Minnesota Lawyer recognizes a group of new attorneys off to a fast start in their legal careers and legal professionals making impacts within the companies and communities they serve. All the Up & Coming Attorneys honorees are in their first decade of practice.

The honorees will be celebrated at an awards luncheon later this month. You can see the full list of honorees here: https://minnlawyer.com/event/up-coming-attorneys-and-unsung-legal-heroes/.

Up & Coming Attorneys

About Laura M. Matson

Dr. Laura M. Matson, JD, PhD, joined Lockridge Grindal Nauen as an associate in 2020, and practices in the firm’s environmental, political, business, antitrust, employment, mediation, government representation, and complex litigation practice groups, representing numerous public entities, businesses, tribal governments, and individual plaintiffs in complex litigation and transactional matters in state and federal court.

Dr. Matson has been particularly active in the last several years representing tribal, governmental, and private clients in environmental matters and consulting on regulatory issues,  including work for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, representing the City of Minneapolis in litigation related to environmental review, and representing a small independent flower farmer in an environmental action.

In addition, Laura has been at the forefront of technology-related cases at LGN and represents plaintiffs in complex and class action cases on the cutting edge of the next generation of litigation. She is actively involved in antitrust litigation related to data privacy against a major social networking site, has helped to establish and leads LGN’s new Generative AI litigation practice, which includes various cases representing artists and authors whose copyrighted works were infringed to train generative AI models, and has also been developing a practice related to copyright and entertainment law negotiating options for book rights and music licensing. In addition to her busy litigation practice, Dr. Matson is an active professional and community volunteer, currently serving as a Council Member for the Minnesota State Bar Association, Environmental, Natural Resources, and Energy Law Section.  She previously served on the board of directors of Frank Theater and was an adjunct professor for the International Law Moot Court at the University of Minnesota Law School from 2018-2020. She is a popular speaker and writer and has written articles on environmental and tribal issues, as well as a three-part series in Attorney at Law Magazine about the career of the Honorable John R. Tunheim, former Chief Judge of the District of Minnesota. 

Brian Clark Appointed to AAI Advisory Board

Brian Clark

Lockridge Grindal Nauen is proud to announce that LGN partner Brian Clark has been appointed to the American Antitrust Institute (AAI) Advisory Board. This high honor comes as no surprise, as Brian is a proven leader in antitrust litigation nationwide.

Brian focuses on plaintiffs-side antitrust class actions and has led the charge in many recent antitrust cases in the agricultural area, including price-fixing cases involving chicken, pork, beef, turkey, and peanuts. To date, in these cases alone, Clark has helped recover over $500 million.

He is a prominent member of the antitrust community, frequently presenting at CLEs regarding e-discovery, and is a past member of the Sedona Conference Working Group 1. Clark also co-founded and is President of the Board of Directors for the Complex Litigation E-Discovery Forum (CLEF), which is a forum for plaintiffs-side complex litigation attorneys to discuss best practices for e-discovery.

The AAI Advisory Board consists of outstanding experts in the fields of antitrust law, economics, and business in the United States and abroad. Congratulations to Brian for joining this prestigious group.

You can learn more in the official announcement from AAI by clicking below:

LGN Chicago Office

LGN Expands to Chicago with New Office Opening

We are pleased to announce the opening of an office in Chicago. The new office, located near downtown Chicago at 1165 North Clark Street, Suite 700, Chicago, IL 60610, will allow us to better serve existing and new clients in the area.

We are excited to establish a presence in the vibrant city of Chicago. This expansion underscores our commitment to address the evolving requirements of our firm, ensuring we are well-equipped to meet client needs as we grow and thrive.

Our Chicago location’s lead attorney, Kyle Pozan, brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the position. Kyle represents clients in antitrust and business litigation.

Chicago Office - Kyle Pozan

LGN attorney Stephen M. Owen Presents Live Webcast CLE

LGN attorney Stephen M. Owen recently presented a live webcast CLE through Minnesota CLE titled Creating Job Descriptions, Postings, and Applications. The CLE was part of a series focused on hiring and firing.

LGN Partner Kristen G. Marttila Named to Hennepin County Bench

Lockridge Grindal Nauen is pleased to announce that partner Kristen G. Marttila has been named by Governor Tim Walz to the Hennepin County Bench, and will serve as a judge in the Fourth Judicial District of the State of Minnesota. 

Ms. Marttila currently practices primarily in the firm’s antitrust, environmental and land use, business law, and health care law practice areas, and serves as the firm’s pro bono committee chair. She formerly clerked for Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz and Judge Eric Tostrud in the District of Minnesota and is both a mentor to younger lawyers and also a spectacular practitioner. LGN is sorry to see Kristen leave our firm but is exceptionally proud that she will be serving the people of Minnesota on the bench. 

Read more at the link to Governor Walz’s announcement here: https://mn.gov/governor/appointments/judicialappointments/judicialnews.jsp#/detail/appId/1/id/601721

LGN Welcomes Emma Ritter Gordon as Firm’s Newest Associate

Emma Ritter Gordon is an Associate at Lockridge Grindal Nauen practicing in the firm’s data breach group.

After graduating summa cum laude from Duke Law School, Emma clerked at the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals for the Honorable Judge David R. Stras. At Duke, she served as the Senior Articles Editor for the Duke Law Journal and as Co-President of the Duke Law and Technology Society. She has interned at the Department of Justice in the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and at the North Carolina Solicitor General’s Office. Before going to law school, Emma worked for a major healthcare technology company.

LGN Government Relations Team Attends Nexus Family Healing Ribbon Cutting

Last week the LGN Government Relations team was excited to join its client, Nexus Family Healing, at the ribbon cutting for their new Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility. Nexus-East Bethel will provide individualized, trauma-informed psychiatric residential treatment services for youth with a higher level of mental and behavioral health needs. The event was made particularly special by the presence of Lieutenant Governor Flanagan, DHS Commissioner Harpstead, Senate Human Services Chair Hoffman, and House Human Services Chair Fischer. LGN also recently sponsored Nexus Family Healing’s “Night for Nexus” event which supports efforts to expand services and ensure every child can access the care they need.  

LGN Joins Law Firms Nationwide to Stand Against Antisemitism, Bigotry and Hate Speech in Any Form   

Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P. is a proud signatory to the letter linked below.  Directed to law school deans across the country from prominent US law firms, the letter condemns bigotry in any form, particularly hate speech.  It was drafted in response to the alarming increase in anti-semitism on college and university campuses in the last several weeks.  

The following excerpt from the letter reflects the core values of the Firm:

As educators at institutions of higher learning, it is imperative that you provide your students with the tools and guidance to engage in the free exchange of ideas, even on emotionally charged issues, in a manner that affirms the values we all hold dear and rejects unreservedly that which is antithetical to those values. There is no room for anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, racism or any other form of violence, hatred or bigotry on your campuses, in our workplaces or our communities.

Many thanks to Joseph C. Shenker, of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, for drafting and circulating this important message. 

The letter is linked below: