Copyrighting Obama
Kristine Boylan
When amateur photographer Lisa Jack decided to publish her portraits of Barack Obama as a college student, attorney Kristine Boylan helped her protect the pictures and negotiate publication and licensing rights to Time and other media.
As an intellectual property attorney, Boylan does this type of work all the time, including trademark enforcement for True Value Hardware and other corporations. But this time the stakes were way higher. Obama had just been elected president, his popularity was soaring, and there were few photos of him as a collegian.
“It was a big deal. They are black-and-white pictures of him goofing around on campus,” says Boylan, adding that Jack is an Augsburg College professor who attended Occidental College with Obama. “We did some copyrights and licenses, and she’s been able to protect her rights and share the photos with the world.”
Boylan devotes much of her practice to protecting clients’ intellectual property rights and enforcing their copyrights, trademarks and licensing agreements. A partner at Merchant & Gould in Minneapolis, Boylan actually got her start in law many years ago.
As an 8-year-old she was the official courier, librarian and garbage-can emptier at the small Willmar law firm of her father, U.S. Magistrate Judge Arthur J. Boylan. She perfected her ability to take on other lawyers while appearing weekly before the firm’s gruff senior partner to defend her performance and $1 salary.
Boylan knows how to fight the good fight whether her clients are Fortune 500 companies, small businesses or individuals. She also puts that assertiveness to work as a mentee with the Federal Criminal Justice Act panel, handling cases when the public defender has a conflict of interest. An avid golfer, Boylan has captured several awards in local charity golf events.
Nose for Business
Stephen Ling
Stephen Ling’s first job out of law school was at a wireless telecommunications consulting firm where he provided legal services to the company’s business clients. He’s now also a real estate entrepreneur. So when clients retain him to handle corporate transactions or real estate matters, they know they’re working with someone who understands business.
As he offers legal advice, Ling always tries to keep his clients’ business objectives in mind. “There are so many attorneys who get caught up in the legal aspect of things that they forget these are people trying to run a business and suggest things that don’t make any business sense,” says Ling, a shareholder at Severson, Sheldon, Dougherty & Molenda in Apple Valley. “I help clients find a way to minimize their business risk and solve their problem at the same time.”
Having business experience helps Ling relate to his clients and build stronger bonds with them, which keeps them coming back. He recently landed a big case from a past client, who was one of 130 investors tangled up with Investment Properties of Minnesota. The plaintiffs claimed that the Brooklyn Park-based firm did not deliver on its promised 20-30 percent returns on investment properties in Florida and Illinois.
Teaming with litigators at his firm, Ling sued and won a $22.7 million verdict from a special master appointed by the Hennepin County District Court.
When he’s not practicing law or taking care of his own business interests—Ling says he doesn’t need much sleep—he serves on the Bethany Christian Services adoption agency board. He’s also a devoted golfer and manages his church’s softball team.
Providing Closure
Nicholas May
When clients hire Nicholas May, they are generally going through an enormously difficult transition. They may have been sexually harassed, fired because of their age or retaliated against as a whistleblower. Though these cases can be long and involved, May takes pride in helping clients fight for their rights.
“A lot of people’s image and self-identity is wrapped up in what they do for a living. When they are terminated wrongfully, that can really shatter their self-esteem and self-confidence,” says May. “Part of what I do is help them get some closure and move on.”
A partner at Fabian May & Anderson in Minneapolis, May mainly focuses on employment litigation. He also does employee contract work, business litigation and civil rights and First Amendment cases.
Recently May represented Lt. John H. Moore and Sgt. Joyce Shockency, both 20-plus-year veterans of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department. They claimed that they faced retaliation after Moore ran against Sheriff Bob Fletcher in 2002 and lost; Shockency had vocally supported Moore. Together they sued Fletcher and Ramsey County in federal court. The county settled in 2008 for a total of $750,000 after the 8th Circuit upheld the judge’s denial of summary judgment.
“That was a hard-fought case where we took 30 to 40 depositions and it went on for almost four years,” says May. “They faced numerous acts of retaliation for exercising their First Amendment rights. Their lives were invested in their jobs, so it was devastating for them.”
May serves as a volunteer mediator for the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and offers pro bono legal advice to families at the Chrysalis Center in Minneapolis. He also plays guitar and drums in a rock band that also includes three Catholic-school teachers—“probably the most uncool band in the Twin Cities.”
Joani Loves Family Law
Joani Moberg
Some attorneys would rather do anything but family law and divorce cases, but not Joani Moberg. She loves it. A shareholder at Larkin Hoffman in Bloomington, Moberg aims to take the emotion out of highly charged situations and help families through their crises in a calm and reasonable fashion.
“I really am settlement-focused. Reaching an agreement and working together is best for a family in the long run,” says Moberg. “I want to empower clients with information and guidance to help them through the process and equip them to settle the case.”
Yet Moberg understands that when the two sides are miles apart, court is where matters need to play out. And she’s got the skills and experience for that setting, having tried many divorce cases.
Armed with undergraduate degrees in psychology and family studies, Moberg believes she acts as a true counselor to her clients. She also enjoys strategizing, applying tax law and analyzing cases involving closely held businesses or large plots of real estate. “It’s very intellectually rewarding, and it’s never boring,” she adds.
That was definitely true when Moberg represented a woman who was raised in a Wisconsin-based cult, married and had two children. She wanted to leave the group and gain sole legal and physical custody; her cult-member husband didn’t agree. Moberg took on the case and scored a victory for her client.
A former law clerk to Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Paul H. Anderson, Moberg currently serves as co-chair of the Hennepin County Bar Association’s family law section. She is co-president of the Loan Repayment Assistance Program of Minnesota, which gives grants to encourage attorneys to serve as legal aid lawyers and stay longer.
The Big Sister
Ann O’Reilly
When Ann O’Reilly joined LeVander, Gillen & Miller, the 80-year-old South St. Paul firm had no women partners and lacked a formal litigation practice group. In her tenure, O’Reilly has helped shepherd it through transformative growth and change, serving as chief of the civil litigation practice group and being named one of four women shareholders.
These days O’Reilly handles the gamut of civil litigation cases, from commercial real estate to employment, construction and contract litigation. She cut her teeth on trial work by serving as a prosecutor for several Dakota County suburbs, handling gross misdemeanors like DUIs and domestic assaults as well as appeals.
Though many of O’Reilly’s civil cases aren’t glamorous, she knows they are important to her clients. “There isn’t a lot of thanks involved, but for me it’s the thrill of knowing I did a good job for my client that gives me a feeling of accomplishment,” she says. “None of my cases have changed the world, but they changed things for my clients’ world, and that’s where I keep my focus.”
Through connections formed in the courtroom, O’Reilly got involved with Legal Assistance of Dakota County and served on its board. She helps organize its silent auction, which has raised $75,000 for free legal services for families in need. O’Reilly also has been a Big Sister for nine years to a North Minneapolis student who just started college.
O’Reilly is proud of her longevity at LeVander, Gillen & Miller and her path from new lawyer to leader. “They gave me a lot of latitude to create the litigation practice group, and I’m grateful for that,” she says. “Now we have a thriving litigation practice for small, medium-size and large businesses that need a full-service law firm.”
Carrying the Burden
Steven Sitek
Steven Sitek is not the kind of lawyer who likes arguing for arguments’ sake. When defending his business clients, he strives to resolve litigation quickly, often calling on relationships he has built with the small circle of Twin Cities’ commercial litigators.
A shareholder at Minneapolis-based Bassford & Remele, Sitek primarily defends business clients against product liability suits, construction and property disputes, personal injury claims, general commercial litigation and insurance defense.
Yet Sitek goes to trial when necessary, such as when he defended Kurt Manufacturing and Lycoming Engines against a breach of contract and warranty claim involving defective airplane parts. Sitek secured a $400,000 verdict. “It was a fun result because they fought us so hard and said the only way they’d settle was for us to pay them,” he says. “They ended up paying us.”
Currently Sitek is teaming with partner Ed Fox to defend Alliant Techsystems Inc. in federal court in New York. Alliant manufactured sophisticated microchips for high-powered satellites, and a fellow defense contractor is claiming that Alliant’s parts were defective.
“I tell clients that I see myself as a problem solver and that their problem is my problem. I try to take as much off of their shoulders and put it on mine,” says Sitek. “I try to resolve as much informally as possible. It keeps the acrimony level down and helps my client get the result they want in the most efficient and effective way possible.”
Sitek is active in the Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association and serves as chair of its construction law committee. He also is a mentor for second-year law students at the University of St. Thomas, and he plays hockey and baseball in men’s leagues.
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