Citing George Floyd, Dorsey dumps city attorney

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Minneapolis’ august Dorsey & Whitney law firm has abruptly ended its decades-long partnership with the Minneapolis city attorney’s office and will no longer help the city prosecute misdemeanors.

The firm cited the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police as the reason for dismantling its 40-year-old city attorney program.

“Dorsey & Whitney shares the sadness and the outrage expressed throughout Minnesota and the world over George Floyd’s killing, as well as over the long history of such injustice,” Managing Partner Bill Stoeri said in a press release. “Healing can only occur by addressing the systemic racism that plagues us.”

The firm made the announcement late Tuesday. The move is one of several actions Dorsey is taking in the wake Floyd’s death. One officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with second-degree murder in the incident. The three other officers at the scene have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Dorsey said one change it will make is greater emphasis on pro bono work. The firm’s Diversity & Inclusion and Pro Bono chairs are teaming to boost Dorsey’s legal services to communities most affected by the destruction caused by recent civil unrest, Stoeri said.

“We must be part of the solution, and that means concrete action to assist the community and a re-examining of our own programs and practices,” Stoeri said.

Reaction Tuesday night to the news on social media and from the legal community was swift.

“Wow! This is huge,” Tweeted Sarah Walker, the long-time criminal-justice reform activist and founder of the Second Chance Coalition.

“Great decision,” said Tom Beito, a Minneapolis criminal defense lawyer, also responding on Twitter.

“In my experience defending people in Minneapolis,” Beito wrote, “the city attorney’s office routinely pawns off cases on the Dorsey lawyers on the day of trial and gives them zero discretion to resolve the case. Sad.”

Mary Moriarty, Hennepin County’s chief public defender, also agreed with Dorsey’s decision, but pointed at the law firm’s record rather than the city’s.

“Dorsey got trial experience for its younger lawyers by ‘lending’ them to the city attorney’s office,” she wrote on Twitter. “For years, public defenders and their clients had to endure their inexperience.”

Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, a practicing attorney and minority lead on the Senate Judiciary committee, said in an interview that he is familiar with the program. He called it a valuable proving ground for Dorsey’s young lawyers.

“In fact, those lawyers are more likely to go to trial than the regular city attorneys because they wanted the trial experience,” he said.

However, Latz noted, when those lawyers handled misdemeanor prosecutions for the city attorney, Minneapolis police officers would have been some of their key trial witnesses. “So it’s sort of a general commentary, perhaps, on the atmosphere,” Latz said.

Dave Ornstein, the former Bloomington city attorney, said that from his perspective the arrangement appeared mutually beneficial for the firm and the city attorney.

“My guess is Minneapolis probably benefited significantly from the arrangement,” he said. But so, too, he added, did Dorsey & Whitney’s attorneys.

“Even trying misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor cases is a valuable asset,” Ornstein said, “because there are so few cases civilly that are tried. If you have that experience, it really gives you an edge going forward in terms of feeling comfortable in the courtroom.”

Former state Supreme Court Associate Justice Paul Anderson agreed. When he was a young attorney at the law firm now known as LeVander, Gillen & Miller, P.A., he gained valuable experience working with city prosecutors in much same way Dorsey attorneys have, he said.

Anderson called the firm’s announcement a “sad turn of events” in view of the collateral consequences for its young attorneys.

“But on the other hand,” Anderson said, “I think Dorsey may have a point in sending a message in their own way that says, ‘Clean up the police department.’”

David Schultz, who teaches at both Hamline University and the University of Minnesota Law School, called the program’s cancellation big news. He said it shows how “toxic” ties to the Minneapolis Police Department have become.

Schultz noted that Dorsey cut its ties the same day that the Minneapolis school board voted to terminate its contract with Minneapolis police. The University of Minnesota ended much of its relationship with the department a week earlier.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights on Monday filed civil rights charges against the department and plans to investigate whether MPD’s discriminatory practices over the past decade have been systemic.

“What these events are really showing at this point is a dramatic collapse in support, obviously, for the police department,” Schultz said. “And to a large extent, a collapse in support for the city—for failing to act.”