Alan I. Silver
Alan Silver
Minneapolis
Minnesota (MN)
Estate & Trust Litigation
Business Litigation
Employee Benefits/ERISA
Profile
Alan Silver is a shareholder practicing in the area of commercial and business litigation. His principal areas of practice are trust and fiduciary litigation, including trusts and estates litigation, employee benefits litigation under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), antitrust and distributorship advice and litigation, and general commercial litigation.
Mr. Silver has been involved in many of the principal trust and estates lawsuits in Minnesota in the last twenty years including the Daniels trust litigation, the Hill trust litigation, the Williams trust (Creamette Company) litigation, the Bell trust litigation, the Divine Family trust litigation, the Galloway trust litigation, the Binger estate litigation, and the Galloway trust litigation. He has served for twelve years as the chair or co-chair of the litigation committee of the probate and trust section of the Minnesota State Bar Association.
Mr. Silver's ERISA litigation practice has involved claims for retirement benefits, terminal plan annuities, claims for trustees' breach of fiduciary duty, leveraged ESOPs, multi-employer defined benefit plans, welfare benefit plans, ERISA's preemption provisions, and Department of Labor enforcement actions.
Mr. Silver's antitrust and franchise practice has involved the entire spectrum of litigation under both state and federal antitrust laws, including advising clients concerning the application of state franchise laws and registration requirements, franchise and distributorship litigation, and antitrust compliance. He has been involved in several national antitrust class action suits.
In addition to the above areas, Mr. Silver has over the past 35 years handled litigation involving shareholder disputes, banking and bankruptcy litigation (including loan workouts, standards for denial of letters of credit, loan participation agreements, ownership of joint accounts, TOD accounts, and Truth in Lending claims), real estate and commercial workouts, trademark rights, construction disputes, securities litigation, real estate mortgage foreclosures, property tax valuation, and numerous other commercial and business litigation disputes. He is also knowledgeable in the area of school law, and served for seven years as a member of the St. Louis Park School Board.
Mr. Silver graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.A. in broadcast journalism and for two years before attending law school worked as a news writer and reporter for KMSP-TV in Minneapolis. He is a cum laude graduate of the University of Minnesota law school and joined the firm of Doherty, Rumble & Butler upon his graduation from law school in 1975. He practiced with Doherty, Rumble & Butler for 24 years until the firm ceased operations in June, 1999, and has been a shareholder with Bassford Remele since that date.
Selected To
Minnesota Super Lawyers 2011
Minnesota Super Lawyers 2010
Minnesota Super Lawyers 2009
Minnesota Super Lawyers 2008
Minnesota Super Lawyers 2007
Minnesota Super Lawyers 2006
Minnesota Super Lawyers 2005
Minnesota Super Lawyers 2004
Minnesota Super Lawyers 2003
Top Lists
About Alan Silver
Admitted: 1975, Minnesota
Professional Webpage: www.bassford.com/Attorney-detail.php5?id=39
Honors and Awards:
- Who's Who in American Law, The Best Lawyers in America, Selected Leading American Attorneys (Limited to 6% of Minnesota Attorneys), Selected Minnesota Super Lawyer (Limited to 5% of Minnesota Attorneys), Selected as a Minnesota Top 100, Super Lawyer, Selected Minnesota Top 40 Business Litigation Super Lawyer
Bar/Professional Activity:
- Minnesota, 1975, U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, 1975, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin, 1987, U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, 1977, U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, 1984, U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit, 1997, U.S. Supreme Court, 2005, American Bar Association, Minnesota State Bar Association, Former Chair, Litigation Committee, Probate and Trust Section, Hennepin County Bar Association, Federal Bar Association, Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association
Pro bono/Community Service:
- St. Louis Park School BoardBoard Member, 1993 - 1999, Chair, 1995 - 1997, 1998 - 1999, Jewish Community Relations Council, Member, Board of Directors, 1988 - 1994, 1996 - PresentVice President, 2003 - 2006, President, 2006 - 2008
Scholarly Lectures and Writings:
- Legislative Updates and ERISA Litigation Hot Topics, Minnesota State Bar Association Advanced Employee Benefits Workshop, Minneapolis, MN, January 22, 2009, The Galloway Trust Litigation, Ramsey County Bar Association Estates and Trusts Section, November 13, 2008. Margoles: What Happened? What Should I Do? Minnesota Probate and Trust Section of the Minnesota Bar Association, November 30, 2007, Mom Always Liked You Best: Probate and Trust Litigation. Iowa State Bar Association Probate and Trust Law Seminar, October 17, 2007, Moderator, Community Forum: Religious Freedom in the Workplace, sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, October 7, 2007, Directors and Officers Liability and Fiduciary Litigation, presented to Twin Cities Insurance Brokers by Chubb Insurance, October 3, 2007, Probate and Trust Litigation, Fall 2007 Probate Seminar, Iowa State Bar Association, October 19, 2007, Mom Always Liked You Best - Probate and Trust Litigation, MSBA Probate and Trust Law Section CLE, 2007, Referees Roundtable, MSBA Probate and Trust Law Section, 2006, Probate and Trust Litigation - How to Avoid Litigation - But if You Can't, How to Improve the Odds, Presented to Marquette Asset Management and Marquette Trust, 2006, Really Understanding the Economic Loss Doctrine, Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association, 2005, What Litigators Think Estate Planning Attorneys Should Know About Probate and Trust Litigation, Arrowhead Estate Planning Council, 2005, Really Understanding the Economic Loss Doctrine, Minnesota CLE, 2005, Probate and Trust Litigation - What the Judges Think You Should Know, Minnesota Probate and Trust Law Section Committee, 2003 and 2004 Diversification of Trust Assets - How Many Eggs Can One Basket Hold? Minnesota Probate and Trust Law Section Committee, 2003, Estate and Trust Litigation, Minnesota CLE, 2002 Really Understanding the Economic Loss Doctrine, Minnesota CLE, 2002, What Trial Lawyers Think Non-Litigators Need to Know About Probate and Trust Litigation, Minnesota State Bar Association, 2002, Law versus Contract - Minnesota's Economic Loss Statute, Minnesota Institute of Legal Education, 2001, Ethics, ERISA and the Attorney-Client Privilege, Minnesota Institute of Legal Education, 2001, Fiduciary Obligations of ERISA Trustees, Minnesota ESOP Association, 1999, An Overview of ERISA Litigation, Twin Cities Business Monthly Employment Seminar Series, 1998, Significant Litigation Issues for Estate Planning and Probate Professionals, Minnesota Probate and Trust Law Section Conference, 1997, An Overview of ERISA Litigation, Minnesota CLE, 1996 and 1997, Advising the Trustee: Is Counsel's Advice Protected by the Attorney- Client Privilege or the Work Product Doctrine? Minnesota Probate and Trust Law Section Conference, 1996 ERISA Litigation Involving Multiple Claimants, Minnesota CLE, 1988, The Law of Tying: Trademarks, Required Purchases and other Perils in the Dealer Context, Minnesota Institute of Legal Education, 1988, Territorial and Customer Restrictions, Resale Price Maintenance and Dual Distribution, Minnesota CLE, 1986, Antitrust Law and Unfair Trade Practices: Remedies under the State and Federal Antitrust Laws, Minnesota Unlawful Trade Practices Act, and Consumer Fraud Statutes, Minnesota Institute of Legal Education, 1986, Co-Reporter, Economic Loss Doctrine, Vol. 39, Minnesota Statutes Annotated, Section 604.101, 2000. Building a New Foundation, Torts, Contracts and The Economic Loss Doctrine, Bench & B. of Minn., Sept. 2000, Fiduciary Obligations of ERISA Trustees, Minnesota ESOP Association, 1999, An Overview of ERISA Litigation, Minnesota CLE (1996 and 1997), Getting to the Customer: An Exploration of Franchising and Independent Distributors, The Collaborative, 1995 ERISA Litigation Involving Multiple Claimants, Minnesota CLE, 1988, The Law of Tying: Trademarks, Required Purchases and other Perils in the Dealer Context, Minnesota Institute of Legal Education
Verdicts and Settlements:
- In Re: Galloway, No. C5-04-20042, 2007 WL 5125298 (Minn. Dist. Ct. April 5, 2007). In re Trusts A & B of Divine, 672 N.W.2d 912 (Minn. Ct. App. 2004). Golden v. wwwrrr, Inc., No. 01-346, 2002 WL 264947 (D. Minn. Feb. 22, 2002). In re Trusteeship of Trust of Williams, 631 N.W.2d 398 (Minn. Ct. App. 2001); No. C-5-52-237, 2000 WL 1920038 (Minn. Dist. Ct. Apr. 14, 2000); 591 N.W.2d 743 (Minn. Ct. App. 1999). Beatty v. N. Cent. Cos., 170 F. Supp. 2d 868 (D. Minn. 2001). Kryzer v. BMC Profit Sharing Plan, No. 01-299, 2001 WL 1587177 (D. Minn. Nov. 1, 2001). Bond v. Twin Cities Carpenters Pension Fund, 307 F.3d 704 (8th Cir. 2002). Minn. Forest Prods., Inc. v. Ligna Mach., Inc., 17 F. Supp. 2d 892 (D. Minn. 1998). Pac. Equip. & Irrigation, Inc. v. Toro Co., 519 N.W.2d 911 (Minn. Ct. App. 1994). In re Trust Created by Hill, 499 N.W.2d 475 (Minn. Ct. App. 1993).
Representative Clients:
- U.S. Bank, Minneapolis Public Schools, Ingersoll Rand (Bobcat), Tyco International, Chubb Insurance, The Toro Company
Educational Background:
- University of Minnesota Law School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, J.D., 1975, Honors: Cum Laude, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, B.A., 1971, Honors: Cum Laude, Major: Broadcast Journalism
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