Working with a deaf client adds certain requirements to your representation. For court appearances, the court will provide an interpreter, but for meetings with your client outside of court, you are required to hire your own private interpreter under the Americans with Disabilities Act. There are a limited number of interpreters in Minnesota>>>
Answering Disrespect with Respect
We all have our techniques for treating each other professionally and with civility. During World War II, Josef Stalin and Winston Churchill had a difficult relationship, at best. The more abuse that Mr. Stalin heaped upon Mr. Churchill, the more correct, if not cordial, the Prime Minister was towards him. When asked why he did not respond to>>>
Gifting & Medical Assistance
Uncompensated transfers to family members will cause more problems for persons with medical assistance applications not approved prior to December 1, 2011. On that date the Department of Health & Human Services (DHS) implemented a new ?all or nothing? policy for reducing penalty periods caused by uncompensated transfers to family members.? MA>>>
Deathbed Deeds
The execution of estate planning documents at a dying person’s bedside is not a palatable task for anyone involved. As estate planning attorneys, we advise our clients against this particular scenario. Inevitably, clients do not always follow our advice. If you find yourself in this situation and the execution of deeds is part of your>>>
Discrimination Claims
The doctrine of “aiding and abetting” discrimination under the Minnesota Human Rights Act was clarified recently by the Minnesota Court of Appeals in a case brought by a woman who was fired after complaining about sexual harassment by a coworker. The court held that the majority owner of the company and his father, who undertook the firing,>>>
Domestic Abuse Dissolutions
In dissolutions involving domestic abuse, the difference between a 518B.01 order for protection (OFP) and orders restraining abuse issued within the dissolution proceeding itself can be very important. A Sec. 518.131 order is not a final order. It cannot immediately be appealed and it does not preclude the parties from litigating the same issues>>>
Multijurisdictional Practice
You are contacted by the resident of another state for whom you wish to provide legal advice on a pending matter. However, you are not licensed in that state and are concerned about the unauthorized practice of law. If the state has adopted American Bar Association (ABA) Model Rule of Professional Conduct (MRPC) 5.5 (Unauthorized Practice of>>>
Alternative Perpetrator Defense
A defense asserted occasionally in criminal cases, especially first-degree murder, is the “alternative perpetrator” doctrine. Under this tenet, a defendant claims that someone else committed the offense. The travails of raising this defense were reflected in a recent ruling of the Minnesota Supreme Court in State v. Ferguson, 804 N.W.2d>>>
Free Case Printing
In 2011, legal research company Fastcase, which provides free caselaw and statutory research services to MSBA members via the MSBA website, launched a new utility that enables one-click printing of any case from any source on the web or in any Microsoft Word document. Called Fastcase Cloud Printing, the utility lets you print or save a nicely>>>
Judges Online
According to a survey conducted by court public information officers, in 2010 40 percent of state court judges were using social media profile sites, with the majority of them on Facebook. One can only speculate how active Minnesota judges may be on social media today, but MSBA’s Civil Litigation Section offers online profiles of participating>>>


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