News

LGN Welcomes Three New Associate Attorneys

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We are thrilled to announce the expansion of our legal team with the addition of three exceptional new associate attorneys: Consuela M. Abotsi-Kowu, Michael J. K. M. Kinane, and Kira Q. Le. Their diverse backgrounds and impressive credentials will further strengthen our ability to provide the highest quality legal services to our clients. We are excited to see the impact they will have on our firm and our clients. You can read more about each of them below.

Consuela Abotsi-Kowu is an associate at Lockridge Grindal Nauen practicing primarily in the firm’s antitrust, data breach and employment practice groups.

Consuela graduated from the University of St. Thomas School of Law in 2024. In law school she served as President of the Black Law Students Association, Vice President of UST Student Government, and participated on the Negotiations team. She was part of the authorship team for the article titled ‘Using COVID-19 Surveillance Systems to Identify and Monitor Disparities: Best Practices and Recommendations,’ published in Ethnicity & Disease.

Consuela graduated from Oakwood University in May 2016 with a major in biology and later earned a Master of Public Health with a specialization in Environmental Health Sciences from UCLA.

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Michael Kinane is an associate at Lockridge Grindal Nauen, where his practice focuses on antitrust law. Before entering private practice, Michael clerked for Associate Chief Justice John A. Pearce at the Utah Supreme Court. Michael graduated cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2023 and was the recipient of the Civil Litigation Concentration Honors Award. He served as a Managing Editor of the Minnesota Law Review and contributed a published Note, Grandpa Sherman Did Not See Google Coming: Evolutions in Antitrust to Regulate Data Aggregating Firms, as well as a published Essay, Interstate Cannabis Compacts: The Road to a Regional Legal Cannabis Economy. Michael competed on Minnesota Law’s McGee Moot Court team and was awarded the Best Respondent’s Brief in the competition. He additionally worked in criminal law during law school, including successfully representing the State of Minnesota before the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

Michael also earned a Master of Public Policy from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs in 2022 while attending the University of Minnesota. Before law school, Michael was a digital marketer in Silicon Valley.

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Kira Le is an associate practicing primarily in the firm’s antitrust and health care practice groups. Kira graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 2024. In law school, she served as Lead Web Content Editor of the Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology, President of the Health Law & Bioethics Association, and a Student Director of the Community Legal Partnership for Health Clinic. Her student Note on antitrust concerns in the metastatic breast cancer drug market was selected for publication in Vol. 25, Issue 1 of the Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology.

Kira graduated summa cum laude from The George Washington University in December of 2020 with a major in Political Science and minors in Sustainability and Law and Society.

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News

LGN Welcomes Chief Justice Hudson and Judge Bratvold to Minneapolis Offices

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Over the past few weeks, we have had the privilege of hosting two distinguished members of the MN judiciary at our Minneapolis office for a series of meet-and-greet events, Chief Justice Natalie Hudson of the MN Supreme Court and Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Diane Bratvold. We pride ourselves on fostering meaningful connections between our legal professionals and the wider judicial community. These unique gatherings offered our attorneys and staff the opportunity to engage directly with Chief Justice Hudson and Judge Bratvold, gaining insights into their perspectives on the evolving legal landscape while discussing key issues shaping today’s courts. You can learn more about each of these Judges below.

Chief Hudson

Chief Justice of the MN Supreme Court, Natalie Hudson

Chief Justice Hudson began her legal career as a staff attorney with Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services in 1982, where she represented indigent clients in housing matters. She then transitioned to practice employment law and general civil litigation in 1986.

In 1989, Chief Justice Hudson’s career shifted from litigation to academia, when she became an Assistant Dean of Student Affairs at Hamline University School of Law. She served in this role until 1992, when she became the St. Paul City Attorney.

In 1994, Chief Justice Hudson went on to practice before the state appellate courts in the Criminal Appellate Division of the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General. The diversity of her underlying experience, and depth of appellate practice prepared Chief Justice Hudson well for her appointment to the Court of Appeals in 2002, a post to which she was twice re-elected. In August, 2015, she was appointed as an associate justice on Minnesota Supreme Court, winning election in 2016 and 2022. On October 1, 2023, she was appointed Chief Justice of the State of Minnesota, becoming the first Black woman to lead the Minnesota Judicial Branch.

Learn more about Chief Justice Hudson on her website: https://justicehudson.org/

Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge, Diane Bratvold

Diane is a judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals, where she has been deciding appeals for 8 years. Diane has written over 400 opinions and decided more than 1200 appeals. She practiced law for 26 years in Minnesota before becoming a judge.

The Judicial Selection Commission recommended Diane for appointment to the Fourth Judicial District (Hennepin County), where she served as a trial judge from 2014 to 2016. The Commission recommended her for appointment to the Minnesota Court of Appeals and Governor Dayton appointed her in 2016. She was the first sitting judge elected as President of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Minnesota voters elected Diane in 2018. She was appointed to the special redistricting panel that redrew the legislative and congressional boundaries based on the 2020 census. Both political parties praised the panel’s work as nonpartisan.

You can learn more about Judge Bratvold on her website: https://www.reelectjudgebratvold.com/

News

Bourne and Baxter-Kauf Successfully Argue Criminal Appeal in Pro Bono Matter

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LGN attorneys Joe Bourne and Kate Baxter-Kauf successfully briefed and argued a pro bono criminal appeal on behalf of a client who was unlawfully stopped by the police while driving his vehicle. The Minnesota Court of Appeals held that the officer did not have reasonable, articulable suspicion for a traffic stop because there was no identified violation of law particularized to the appellant’s conduct, the appellant was not engaged in evasive conduct, and the appellant’s license plate was legible. The LGN team considers this to be an important victory both for their client and for other individuals whom the police may seek to stop while driving their vehicles. Read the full opinion here.

LGN attorneys participate in criminal appeals through the MSBA Appellate Section’s Pro Bono Project with the Appellate Public Defender.

News

Kate Baxter-Kauf Featured on FBA Panel Hosted at LGN

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The Civil Discovery Practice Group and the Mass Tort, Multi-District Litigation, and Class Action Practice Group of the Minnesota Chapter of the Federal Bar Association (FBA) hosted a distinguished all-female panel of attorneys to discuss Rule 36 Requests for Admission, a litigation tool that is often overlooked or ineffectively used. The panelists shared insights from their experiences, including notable successes, common pitfalls, and perspectives from the bench.

The panel featured Kate Baxter-Kauf, Partner at Lockridge Grindal Nauen; The Honorable Dulce J. Foster, Magistrate Judge for the District of Minnesota; and Kristin Zinsmaster, Partner at Jones Day. The discussion, held at the LGN offices, was moderated by Courtney Burks, Associate at Jones Day.

LGN Senior Counsel, Simeon Morbey, who is a member of the Civil Discovery Practice Group, coordinated this insightful event.

FBA
FBA
News

LGN Attends COSAL Leadership & Diversity Summit

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LGN partner Heidi Silton and associates Eura Chang, Kira Le, and Consuela Abotsi-Kowu were honored to attend the 3rd Annual Committee to Support Antitrust Laws (COSAL) Leadership & Diversity Summit in Philadelphia. It was a day filled with networking and learning featuring various panels, including a panel titled: “Allies: How to Find One and How to Be One,” moderated by Heidi Silton.

COSAL

The COSAL Diversity Summit invites leaders and emerging leaders of the plaintiffs’ antitrust bar to work together to enhance antitrust enforcement by amplifying the voices and power of attorneys from diverse backgrounds in the profession. The Summit provides an opportunity for historically underrepresented antitrust attorneys to further develop best practices and strategies in enforcement, to discuss current challenges in the practice and to identify solutions in an intimate, collaborative environment. 

Invitations are limited to women, attorneys of color, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and other underrepresented members of the plaintiffs’ antitrust bar.

News

Heidi Silton to Receive 2024 Hollis Salzman Memorial Leadership Award

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The American Antitrust Institute (AAI) and the Committee to Support Antitrust Laws (COSAL) recently announced LGN partner Heidi M. Silton as the 2024 recipient of Hollis Salzman Memorial Leadership Award. Heidi will be honored at AAI’s Awards Night on October 30, 2024, in Washington, DC.

AAI and COSAL created the Hollis Salzman Memorial Leadership Award in 2021 to honor the life of Hollis Salzman, a friend, colleague, and incomparable member of the antitrust community. One of the nation’s leading antitrust attorneys, Ms. Salzman spent more than 25 years litigating some of the world’s largest cases and recovered over $2 billion in settlements for victims of antitrust cartel and unfair competition practices.

She was a champion of gender equality and diversity in her profession, embracing her role as a mentor and role model to other female attorneys, and helping to inspire them to shine on their own merit. “Women can succeed and lead blockbuster investigations, even in a male-dominated field, without losing their identity or acting in a way that is not true to themselves,” Ms. Salzman noted. Her tireless dedication to advocating on behalf of women included an extensive pro bono practice representing indigent women and victims of domestic violence.

Heidi Silton

About Award Recipient Heidi Silton:

Heidi is a seasoned litigator with more than 25 years of experience representing clients in high-stakes complex civil litigation. She is known as consistently positive and courteous in dealing with co-counsel, opposing counsel, and the Courts, even while pressing her clients’ best interests. She is a vigorous defender of the need for antitrust enforcement by the civil justice system and also devoted to training the next generation of antitrust lawyers and ensuring that the bar is ever more prepared, diverse, and knowledgeable. She stands out as a leader in the antitrust bar and possesses many of the characteristics of Hollis Salzman: honest, tough, mentor, friend.

Heidi is an active member of both the AAI Advisory Board and COSAL. For AAI, she has served on AAI’s Antitrust Enforcement Awards Judging Committee since 2017 when it was chaired by Hollis Salzman. She has been committee chair or co-chair since 2020. For COSAL, Heidi has served in numerous leadership positions, including as President in 2021, and was instrumental in creating the Hollis Salzman Memorial Leadership Award. She was on the leadership team that established COSAL’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and she presided over the first annual COSAL Leadership and Diversity Summit.   

Heidi is also a past chair of and current council member emeritus of the Minnesota State Bar Association Antitrust Law Section.

Heidi has led LGN’s Business Development Committee, the Hiring Committee and the Summer Associate Program and has been active in the firm’s efforts related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. She currently sits on the firm’s executive committee. She mentors lawyers inside and outside her firm to support diversity in the bar. She regularly encouraged new law clerks and associates, including from underrepresented groups, to work with her on writing projects that allow them to get published and start making their mark professionally.  More than that, she works with an open door and a welcoming smile that encourages everyone at LGN to do their best work and strive to both lead and learn.

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LGN Sponsors Minnesota Urban Debate League Mayors Challenge

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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.

Minnesota Urban Debate League
Minnesota Urban Debate League
Photo Credit: Marina Que

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LGN Sponsors Wilderness Inquiry Great River Race

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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

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

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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. 

Pictured at award ceremony: Brian Clark, Arielle Wagner, Kate Baxter-Kauf, Laura Matson, Rachel Kitze Collins, and Dave Zoll.


News

LGN Attends Minnesota Asian Pacific American Bar Association Gala

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We were proud to support the annual gala of the Minnesota Asian Pacific American Bar Association (MNAPABA) yesterday. The theme of this year’s MNAPABA Gala was “Leadership, Law, Legacy.” The keynote speaker was Don Liu, the Executive Vice President and Chief Legal and Compliance Officer for Target and fellow MNAPABA member. LGN associates Eura Chang, Arielle Wagner, and Michael Kinane were in attendance.

Minnesota Asian Pacific American Bar Association

MNAPABA is a community of Minnesota Asian Pacific American and Asian lawyers that supports one another, celebrates each other’s accomplishments, creates opportunities for dialogue on issues of importance to APAs, and highlights APA issues to the legal community at large. The group welcomes people of all diverse backgrounds and experiences and offers individuals professional support and opportunities for growth and mentorship while being the voice of the APA legal community. MNAPABA (formerly NAPABA-MN) is an affiliate of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA).