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LGN Attorneys Attend Minnesota Lawyer’s Attorneys of the Year Event

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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.

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LGN Group recognized by Minnesota Lawyer as one of its 2022 Attorneys of the Year Honorees

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Congratulations to Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P. Associate Arielle Wagner and LGN Partners Kate Baxter-Kauf and Kristen G. Marttila, who were recognized as a Group Honoree by Minnesota Lawyer for their work on the matter State of Minnesota v. Stevenson. The team successfully litigated a pro bono criminal appeal by a client who was unlawfully detained by police. In August 2022, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that a sheriff’s deputy unconstitutionally expanded the scope of a traffic stop by opening the door of our client’s lawfully parked car without an individualized, reasonable, and articulable justification, and reversed the district court’s denial of the motion to suppress evidence obtained after the car door was opened. The team considers this a victory for individual rights and is proud that this case will help protect Minnesotans from unconstitutional searches in the future.

This case is the most recent example of the approximately one dozen appeals LGN attorneys have handled as Special Assistant Public Defenders in conjunction with the Minnesota Board of Public Defense Appellate Public Defender’s Office and the Minnesota State Bar Associate Appellate Practice Section.  LGN Partner Kristen Marttila serves as the firm’s pro bono committee chair, while Partner Kate Baxter-Kauf oversees the criminal appellate pro bono defense practice.

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LGN Attorney Arielle Wagner Presents CLE on Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta

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LGN Attorney Arielle Wagner presented at a Tri-Bar County CLE on November 16, 2022, entitled “The Shifting Jurisdictional Landscape in Indian Country: SCOTUS’s Decision in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta.” Moderated by the Honorable Tracy Smith, presenters Arielle Wagner and Andrew Adams III discussed the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent 5-4 decision in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, ruling that states have jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed by non-Natives on Native land.

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LGN Attorneys Attend Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers Gala

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Lockridge Grindal Nauen lawyers were thrilled to attend the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers Gala as a Silver Sponsor! We celebrate the scholarship recipients and are committed to doing our best to advance and support Black lawyers in Minnesota.

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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 Attorneys Successfully Argue Criminal Appeal in Pro Bono Matter

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LGN attorneys Arielle Wagner, Kate Baxter-Kauf, and Kristen Marttila successfully worked on and argued a criminal appeal in a pro bono matter involving a client who was unlawfully detained by police. On August 8, 2022, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that the sheriff’s deputy unconstitutionally expanded the scope of a traffic stop by opening the client’s car door without an individualized, reasonable, and articulable justification, and reversed the district court’s denial of the motion to suppress evidence obtained after the car door was opened. The team considers this a victory for individual rights and hopes this decision helps clarify the boundaries of these types of traffic stops in the future. 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.

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LGN Proud to Announce Six Attorneys Recognized as North Star Lawyers

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LGN prides itself on our commitment to pro-bono volunteer work. We are thrilled to announce that LGN attorneys (pictured from left to right) Arielle Wagner, Rachel Kitze Collins, Kailey Mrosak, Maureen Kane Berg, Kate Baxter-Kauf, and Stephen Owen have been recognized as 2021 North Star Lawyers. The Minnesota State Bar Association designates North Star Lawyers as those who provided 50 hours or more of legal service in 2021. More information about the North Star Lawyers program is available here; the full list of 2021 North Star Lawyers can be found here.  This listing was also published in the May/June 2022 Bench & Bar Magazine.

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19 LGN Attorneys Named Super Lawyers & Rising Stars

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Lockridge Grindal Nauen is proud to announce that nineteen of the firm’s attorneys were selected as 2022 Minnesota Super Lawyers and Rising Stars.

Kate Baxter-Kauf, Joe Bruckner, Brian Clark, Susan Ellingstad, Gregg Fishbein, Yvonne Flaherty, Ted Grindal, Dick Lockridge, Kristen Marttila, Charlie Nauen, Rebecca Peterson, Karen Hanson Riebel, Robert Selquist, Heidi Silton, and David Zoll have been named Super Lawyers. Super Lawyers recognizes the top 5% of outstanding lawyers in each state, who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement, from more than 70 practice areas. 

Joe Bourne, Rebecca Kanninen, Rachel Kitze Collins, and Arielle Wagner have been named Rising Stars. The Rising Stars recognition is given to the top 2.5% of up-and-coming attorneys in the state who are either 40 years or younger, or who have been practicing for 10 years or less. 

The selection process is multi-phased including independent research, peer nominations, and peer evaluations.

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LGN Attorney Arielle Wagner Moderates Panel on Savannah’s Act

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Arielle Wagner

LGN Attorney Arielle Wagner moderated the CLE “Savanna’s Act: Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women” co-hosted by Minnesota Women Lawyers and the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association. 

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LGN Attorney to serve on Judicial Selection Committee for Vacancy on Federal District Court

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Arielle Wagner

U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith announced the formation of a judicial selection committee to assist them in making recommendations to President Biden to fill a vacancy on Minnesota’s federal district court.

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