Todd Wind, Fredrikson & Byron P.A.

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What are the biggest challenges you currently see in business litigation?

Balancing case needs and expense. The cost of litigation continues to increase with not only attorney rates, but also with the explosion of data available for discovery through a variety of sources including chat logs, cloud files, social media and more. Firms are increasingly needing new automation tools for document and privilege review and having to hire e-discovery specialists. We have an obligation to be thorough in our review and collection of potentially responsive information and we also want to be thorough in our search for information from the other side. These costs add up quickly and requires early case (and settlement) analysis.

What are the biggest misconceptions about the field of business litigation?

Sometimes people expect there to be a remedy for all wrongs, but there is not always a perfect solution. For example, what if there is a clear breach but no provable damage? I had a client ask me: “So, they can just breach their obligations and get away with it?” I explained the concepts of specific performance and the costs of pursuing those remedies when the breach, while clear, was not actually causing any harm, and the client realized a suit made no sense but was frustrated with the “system.” A party that really wants specific performance of a contract might not be completely happy with damages for a breach.

Without revealing the names of a client, what is the most interesting case you’ve worked on lately?

A business contract/partnership dispute. Issues include whether the parties, by conduct, formed a legal partnership, irrespective of whether they intended that result, and the consequences of dissociation from that partnership given a separate but related contract. The issues are complex and there is not a well-developed body of law on several of the key issues.

What is one thing you would change about Minnesota if you could?

I would like to see the creation of a business court similar to the New York Commercial Division or the Texas Business Court, to focus on complex business and commercial disputes.