Minnesota Lawyer

The good news for Michael C. Wilhelm, an associate with just six months' experience in practice, was that he'd been appointed to represent a plaintiff in a case that would very likely to go to trial. Anticipating a career in litigation when most civil lawsuits settle nowadays, Wilhelm was hungry for the trial experience.

Megan J. Hertzler recalls being intrigued with the law at just 9 years old.

Lee Hutton III is primarily a defense attorney, and had never represented a plaintiff in a real estate case before, but that didn't stop him from winning.

Larry Hammerling, formerly the chief appellate public defender in Minnesota, spent his entire, all-too-brief legal career not only representing persons marginalized in society but importantly, teaching others to do so. He started out working for the Winnebago, Omaha and Santee Sioux Indian Tribes in Nebraska and came to Minnesota and the state public defender's office in 1979. He managed the Minnesota Legal Assistance to Minnesota Prisoners clinic and taught at William Mitchell College of Law. Hammerling died of cancer on June 20, 2010.

Some people know their vocational path early on in life; for longtime Winona attorney Kent Gernander, his course was determined more by a hunch.

As chief public defender for Minnesota's 3rd Judicial District, Karen Duncan has spent several years coping with a worsening funding crunch, exacerbated by the state's current, $5 billion-plus budget shortfall. Duncan took bold action to address the issue last year, asking a Steele County District Court judge's to permit her overburdened staff to withdraw from representing 46 defendants.

John Harens of Moore, Costello & Hart is a veteran attorney who is used to handling complex civil litigation, particularly in the area of construction, architecture and design. However, during the last 15 of his 35 years in practice, Harens has shifted from the role of litigator to one of mediator.

Minneapolis attorney Jim Behrenbrinker had never handled a police excessive-force case until December, 2006, when Katie Felder contacted him, seeking justice for her late son, Dominic Felder. He had been shot and killed by two Minneapolis police officers.

Gary Debele, the president of Walling, Berg & Debele in Minneapolis, has a strong interest in Minnesota's legal history.

When Legal Aid attorney Galen Robinson decided to challenge Gov. Tim Pawlenty's authority to unilaterally cut the state budget in 2009, he wasn't intimidated by the inevitable David vs. Goliath comparisons.