In the midst of the tumultuous year, Minnesota Lawyer’s class of Attorneys of the Year for 2020 addressed these and other important issues. This year’s awards highlight work protecting Minnesotans during the pandemic, establishing precedent for peacetime emergency, maintaining the integrity of Minnesota elections, protecting vulnerable prison populations during a deadly pandemic, restoring a lake’s name to Bde Maka Ska, and much more.
Cases involving the legal implications surrounding patent infringement, complex estate plans, and even those of materials that travel through substrates in a case of a community’s polluted soil and groundwater were just some of the issues addressed by this year’s group of honorees.
One notable case among those being recognized addresses a shameful event in Minnesota history. In 1920, a Black man named Max Mason was wrongly convicted of raping a white woman. Despite a lack of evidence, other Black men were also accused, three of whom were subsequently lynched. Jerry Blackwell and Corey Gordon (both Circle of Excellence honorees featured on the cover) were among the leaders of a team who worked pro bono to find a way to clear Mason’s name. Their work resulted in the first posthumous pardon in the state’s history.
For Outstanding Service to the Profession in 2020, Minnesota Lawyer recognizes the work from one group — an elite team of court staff who made sure that Minnesota’s legal system would operate remotely. Also honored were Cindy K. Telstad, Streater & Murphy; Former Minneapolis Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton, Thomson Reuters; and Tom Nelson, former Minnesota State Bar Association president, Stinson. We also honor the work of two judges: Chief Judge Edward J. Cleary, Minnesota Court of Appeals, retired; and Justice David Lillehaug, Minnesota Supreme Court, retired, now at Fredrikson & Byron.
Congratulations to all of the 2020 Attorneys of the Year honorees.
— Joel Schettler, editor
Honorees
In re: 20 Day Revocable Trust Trial 
District of Minnesota Compassionate Release 
Mayo Clinic and Fish & Richardson
Protecting Minnesotans in a Pandemic
Bde Maka Ska Name Restoration 
Creating Peacetime Emergency Precedent 
State COVID Legal Team, Executive Order Drafting Team
2020 Election 
Two partners
Thomas Hagen and Steven Groschen
Andrew Irlbeck and Paul Applebaum
Jan Conlin and Mathew Korte 
Jerry W. Blackwell and Corey L. Gordon 
Thomas Boyd and Michael Rosow 
Imran Ali and Karen Kugler 
Kevin Sieben and Samuel Edmunds 
Peter Gorman and Mary Rice
Paul Dworak and Jeff Storms 
Gerald Laurie and Kelly Jeanetta
Larry J. Chiat and Alan S. Milavetz 
Individuals
Andrew Carlson, Taft
David Davenport, BC Davenport 
Greg Merz, Lathrop GPM
Irene Kao, League of Minnesota Cities/The Infinity Project
Jill Brisbois, Brisbois Defense PLLC
Leita Walker, Ballard Spahr
Masha M. Yevzelman, Fredrikson & Byron
Michael Sacchet, Ciresi Conlin
Sybil Dunlop, Greene Espel
Outstanding Service to the Profession, group
Jeff Shorba, Dawn Torgerson, AnneMarie O’Neill and Chief Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea
Outstanding Service to the Profession, individuals
Cindy Telstad, Streater & Murphy
Edward J. Cleary, Chief Judge, Minnesota Court of Appeals, retired
David Lillehaug, Fredrikson & Byron 
Sharon Sayles Belton, Thomson Reuters
Tom Nelson, Minnesota State Bar Association 
= Circle of Excellence Attorney of the Year
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