Attorneys of the Year: Alan C. Eidsness

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Henson & Efron

As a law student, Alan Eidsness argued a case, State v. Dinneen, before the Minnesota Supreme Court.

He won. Almost four decades later, it’s still good law.

Eidsness hopes history repeats itself with a

high-court affirmance of In re the Marriage of Haefele, a case he won before the Court of Appeals last year.

The opinion defined the availability of S-corp distributions for child support. He argued the case before the justices in January.

Among the precedents addressed during oral argument was Gottsacker v. Gottsacker, another case he won before the state Supreme Court, regarding the characterization of an ownership interest in an S-corp as marital for property division.

Family court cases are a rarity on the high court’s docket — there’s perhaps one or two per year — and it’s an area of law where settlements are frequent. So the odds of a family law attorney appearing before the justices more than once in a career are long. Eidsness is grateful to have had that opportunity as often as he has.

Likewise, he’s extremely proud to be the first family law attorney in the state to be inducted into the Minnesota Chapter of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Membership in that organization is limited to less than 1 percent of any state’s attorneys.

Eidsness had the extraordinary fortune as a new lawyer to work with the late Bob Henson, “a consummate lawyer and well-respected gentleman in the practice,” he said.

Over the years, Eidsness has represented several high-profile clients, including Prince in his divorce, which settled confidentially, and Jesse Ventura against Titan Sports and the World Wrestling Federation. Back in 1991, Eidsness garnered a $1 million verdict in federal court for the then-future governor; the verdict was upheld before the 8th Circuit.

Ventura remains a client, Eidsness noted. The two later worked together, along with former first lady Terry Ventura, to form the Jade Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to fundraising for the benefit of disadvantaged children.