About Lauren Peck
Lauren Peck is a former editorial assistant and associate editor at Super Lawyers. She currently works at a public relations agency in Minneapolis and frequently writes articles for clients on topics from employee burnout to the opioid epidemic. Her work has been published in Minnesota Parent, Twin Cities Metro Magazine, Minnesota Good Age and more. As a staffer and freelancer for Super Lawyers, Lauren has written stories about attorneys taking on cases against Donald Rumsfeld, Colombian narcotics dealers, Skechers and more.
Articles written by Lauren Peck
Partners for Life
Husband-and-wife duo Caddell & Chapman commit to their clients and their familyMichael Caddell and Cynthia Chapman’s relationship had an unusual pair of catalysts: leaky plumbing and Chapman’s mother. In 1995, Caddell, a Houston attorney, was lead counsel on a class action involving failing polybutylene plumbing systems. When a settlement conference brought him to Carmel, Calif., he called a friend for dinner: Carol Chapman, a local artist from whom Caddell had bought a painting a decade earlier. She asked to bring along her daughter, a lawyer. It happened that …
Solid Foundation
Ronald Strote keeps his feet on the ground in his construction law and ADR practiceDon’t get complacent. That’s Ronald Strote’s mantra, about which he is not complacent. He doesn’t just say it, he clarifies it. “Complacent meaning, I don’t really have to prepare; I know this area, I know the case and stop worrying about it,” he says. After 42 years of practice, Strote still enters the courtroom wondering if he’s done enough to prepare. “I have some nervousness before a trial,” he says, “still worrying about what is going to happen, what to anticipate. …
Professional Protector
Audra Michelle Bryant on safeguarding children and defending fellow attorneysWhen someone walks into her office, Audra Michelle Bryant just knows: “You can often tell from the clients’ faces if it’s their first time getting sued.” The professional liability attorney at Bush & Augspurger in Tallahassee defends lawyers, insurance brokers, accountants and other professionals hit with lawsuits. But Bryant’s role extends beyond just attorney. “Being a lawyer is partly being a counselor,” she says. “[You] guide them through it.” Bryant wanted to be a …
Major, Esq.
Victims of nursing home abuse, Maj. Michael A. Prieto has got your sixWhen a woman came to Mike Prieto in 2007 after her 82-year-old father died at a nursing home from an untreated broken hip, Prieto thought it would be one of his “run-of-the-mill” cases. Instead, the case ended in a $43.5 million verdict—believed to be the highest in Georgia history against a nursing home operator—with the owner arrested for running what Prieto described as “a house of horrors.” The nursing home was perpetually short on food; the washer and dryer were broken; at …
Andrew Stoltmann Unweaves a "Tapestry of Fraud"
The former broker fights back for victims of bad investment adviceAfter landing his J.D. and joining a securities law firm, former stockbroker Andrew Stoltmann was eager to publicize the widespread problems he’d seen while working in the financial industry, such as churned accounts and risky investment recommendations. The problem was getting anyone to listen. When Stoltmann—who would go on to win a $1.46 million award against a brokerage for Chicago Bulls legend Horace Grant—went before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in those pre-financial …
Defiant DNA
Companies that place people over profit should fear Robert K. JennerIn 2010, mass torts attorney Robert K. Jenner’s phone rang. It was close friend and fellow lawyer Ron Johnson. “He says, ‘I think that these [Skechers Shape-ups] sneakers are causing horrific personal injuries,’” Jenner says. Johnson explained how the shoes’ unstable rocker-bottom soles—marketed to tone muscles—changed the wearer’s gait, potentially leading to injury-causing falls, stress fractures or tendon injuries. Jenner agreed to help investigate, an action that grew into …
She Isn’t Afraid of ERISA
Mary Jo Larson demystifies the world of employee benefits lawIn 1976, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which established minimum requirements for private industry pension plans, went into effect. A slew of additional laws followed, and attorneys working in labor and tax law were buried under a mountain of confusing new regulations. “Everyone was throwing up their hands just going, ‘I can’t deal with this anymore!’” says attorney Mary Jo Larson. It became clear that law firms would need a more specialized practice area …
Wall of Protection
How trademark lawyer Tim Kenny safeguards local and national brandsIn early 2012, a text lit up Tim Kenny’s phone. Attached was a photo of advertisements for “The Big Jameson Ginger.” The text came from Kieran Folliard, founder of 2 Gingers Whiskey, former owner of four local Irish pubs and trademark holder of the “The Big Ginger.” Kenny had helped Folliard trademark the name for his combination of Irish whiskey, ginger ale, lemon and lime in 2009. Within a few days of getting the text, he hit Jameson Irish Whiskey with an infringement lawsuit and a …
Don’t Crash Into Your Brother’s Truck
Wyoming’s John A. MacPherson has been on the front lines of some remarkable real estate battlesIn 1979, John A. MacPherson, a lawyer out of Rawlins, Wyo., found himself at the U.S. Supreme Court. The government wanted to build a road across his client Leo Sheep Co.’s land to allow recreational use of a reservoir. “Our client, fellow by the name of Charlie Vivion, said, ‘Over my dead body,’” MacPherson says, “and we were off to the races.” The case grew increasingly complicated. It involved delving into railroad land grants from the mid-1800s, which divided much of the West …
FROM THE CANNERY TO THE COURTROOM
Montana attorney Lisa A. Speare found her calling in medical malpracticeFor Lisa A. Speare, an attorney out of Billings, Mont., the human impact of her work is key. Every single case is very personal to someone, she believes. No matter what kind of case it is. At the Speare Law Firm, which she and her husband Bill founded in 2011, Speare’s practice focuses on defending healthcare providers accused of malpractice. While her clients have often been stereotyped as unfeeling, she dispels the myth. “There are many sleepless nights for these doctors accused of …
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