Minnesota Lawyer

Meritas, the Minneapolis-based global network of independent law firms founded by a Maslon partner three decades ago, is launching new racial and gender equality and inclusion initiatives stemming from the police killing of George Floyd.

Marlon Cush was about 10 when his family left the South American country of Guyana for New York City’s Queens borough. Growing up in a “family of proverbs,” he still follows this one: “Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

Caring for a parent with a rare disease drew Jaimala K. Pai to the health care field. It also informs her approach, as Medtronic’s senior legal director & chief counsel for cardiovascular diagnostics and services (CDS).

University of Minnesota Law School professor JaneAnne Murray and her students, through the school’s Clemency Project, have helped win early release for 32 low-level, nonviolent inmates serving disproportionately long sentences.

Insured parties who are denied coverage and plaintiffs suing them for alleged damages may have an easier time recovering from liability insurance carriers under a new Minnesota Supreme Court opinion.

St. Thomas Law School keynote speaker promotes diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and the value of mentoring.

Marques Lang, founding attorney of Landon Kennedi Law in Bloomington, likes helping clients get a fresh start financially after a divorce.

Ballard Spahr partner Maggie Tatton is preparing to serve for a second time as a judge for the Minnesota Cup (MN Cup) startup competition as she continues in her role as co-leader of the 15-office firm’s mergers-and-acquisitions group.

A teenage artist from California who alleges that Target Corp. copied his “sketch-style dots” with its use of “scribble dots” in an exclusive line of clothing and other products has won an early round in his copyright infringement suit against the retail giant.

Attorney Tamara Cabán-Ramirez, a member of the state’s Conviction Review Unit’s advisory board, hopes the unit will take “an introspective look at how the justice system functions in Minnesota” given its disproportionate effects on racial and ethnic minorities.