The POWER 30: Mark Briol

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He transferred that drive and energy to law school, and went on to graduate first in his class at what is now Mitchell Hamline School of Law. He’s had his own Minneapolis law firm for 33 years, Briol & Benson, which practices across the country, mostly for businesses and shareholders.

Wanting to do “complicated law,” Briol started in securities litigation. He tried cases and won, building a national reputation. Then he took his practice beyond business and securities. He started to add lawyers “with extraordinary cases,” and many have stayed for 20 years or more.

Many cases involve shareholders, frequently minorities and in closely held companies. They often are venued outside Minnesota. Family-owned companies that are several generations old often run into problems as the company becomes attenuated from the original entrepreneur, Briol said. “Things break down at the third generation,” he said.

In other cases, Briol represents about 40 percent of the counties in Minnesota in MDL litigation in the northern district of Ohio against manufacturers, distributors and pharmaceuticals for fraudulent business practice in pushing opioids on the public, thereby costing counties enormous sums of money on health care.

The case includes statutory claims relating to false claims and false advertising, and common law claims for fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, negligent failure to warn, negligence, gross negligence, public nuisance, and unjust enrichment.

Two trials were scheduled for October. A preliminary $26 billion settlement was announced in August with Johnson & Johnson and the nation’s “Big Three” opioid distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson.

Briol also is suing the Mall of America for an incident two years ago that shocked the state. Emmanuel Aranda threw a 5-year-old boy off a third-floor balcony, likely intending to kill him. But the child survived with severe head trauma and multiple broken bones.

Briol’s case alleges that mall was negligent in its security. Aranda had been banned from the mall on a prior occasion for a year, which is the legal limit for such a restriction, Briol said. He had been at the mall the day before and was acting strangely, Briol said. Security personnel talked to him but didn’t ask his name and let him go. On the day of the crime, he had hidden his jacket under a stair. Security found the jacket but didn’t attempt to find Aranda, Briol said.

Briol is bringing a case for the child and also for the mother, who was in the immediate vicinity and witnessed the assault on her son.

Briol also has litigated some of the largest-value divorce cases in Minnesota, but only over money. The father of seven tells his clients, “I don’t do kids.”