About Erik Lundegaard
Erik Lundegaard has been a senior editor at Super Lawyers since 2005 and its editor in chief since 2013—during which time the magazine has won close to 100 journalism awards around the country. His freelance writing has been published by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Slate, Salon, MSNBC.com, The Christian Science Monitor, The Seattle Times and The Believer, among others. He has a B.A. in English from the University of Minnesota, studied Mandarin Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, and lives in Seattle, Washington, where he is a long-suffering Seattle Mariners fan. In his spare time, he is working on a book about the movies of James Cagney.
Articles written by Erik Lundegaard
Collaborative Art
How an expertise in poisoning led Alexandra Kwoka to family lawQ: You’re a family law lawyer but you went out and got an LL.M. in tax law. Is this to supplement your regular practice? Or did you want to do something that isn’t as emotionally charged as family law? A: Both. When [your clients are] high net-worth individuals, having an understanding of how the tax code affects partnerships and businesses sometimes makes it easier to be innovative in solutions. Alimony is a tax deduction for high-income earners. Also, I personally find financial …
Lone Ranger
Jean Dubofsky, the first female justice of the Colorado Supreme Court, and the appellate lawyer who took Amendment 2 to the U.S. Supreme Court, reflects on her careerQ: You previously mentioned to me you would be retiring soon. Is this well-known in Colorado legal circles? A: I’ve never done any kind of a formal announcement. A lot of people who see me know that I’m not taking on new cases—that I am either consulting or serving as an expert. I’ve done some reports for state agencies and things of that nature. I’ll keep doing that. But I’m not going to be the person responsible for shepherding any more cases through the appellate system. Just …
Cochran’s Man in Atlanta
Hezekiah Sistrunk Jr. sees lawyering as a service jobLast November, Hezekiah Sistrunk Jr., managing partner of The Cochran Firm in Atlanta, and shareholder of its national firm, was inducted, along with Richard Sinkfield and Forrest Johnson, into the Gate City Bar Association Hall of Fame. We spoke with him the week after the ceremony. Q: Tell us about the Hall of Fame induction. Did you give speeches? A: We did. Three-minute speeches, live, and four-minute presentations, videotape, prior to each person’s induction. Q: Who put …
Wanted: Shades of Gray
IP and business litigator Adrian Pruetz, whose eponymous firm merged with Glaser Weil Fink Jacobs Howard Avchen & Shapiro last November, talks about preparing witnesses, debriefing juries, and the perceived advantage of being a female attorneyQ: What percentage of your cases goes to trial? A: I think the cases that are black-and-white resolve early. It becomes pretty apparent to both sides that these are the facts, and this is the law, and this is how it’s going to come out. But that’s not the majority of cases. The majority of cases that we handle are pretty complex and they involve shades of gray. Almost all IP cases, frankly, involve shades of gray. And the cases that go to trial are the grayest ones: the ones where each side …
Insurance Exchange
Jeffrey A. Wothers, managing partner of Niles, Barton & Wilmer, talks insurance, Lloyd’s of London, and why the founder of his firm was jailed by Abraham LincolnQ: Is Niles, Barton & Wilmer the oldest law firm in Baltimore? A: In the state of Maryland, actually. There’s a bankruptcy judge in town, Judge [James F.] Schneider, who is sort of the historian for the bar, and he is the one who informed us about our history: We were the oldest law partnership; we are the oldest firm in the state; and the founder of our firm founded the Baltimore City Bar library, which still exists in the courthouse, and was the mayor of Baltimore when Abraham Lincoln …
War Stories
Dennis P. Coffey on the war on drugs, law schools, and how overlegislated we areMilwaukee criminal defense lawyer Dennis P. Coffey, of Mawicke & Goisman, was born in Racine in 1946, became a lawyer because of his late brother, Bill—for whom the annual William M. Coffey Defender Award is named—and has, in his career, handled more than 400 jury trials. He spoke with us in July. Q: You’ve been quoted as saying the best victories are the cases nobody knows about—the cases that were resolved without any publicity. Can you talk about any of them now? A: I can …
The Rabbi’s Son
Bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman on tough cases, humorous deal toys, and how to handle power brokers like Carl Icahn and Donald TrumpDavid M. Friedman, who heads the bankruptcy group at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, almost became a rabbi. Instead he opted for the law, and, over the last 30 years, has represented individuals such as Carl Icahn and Donald Trump, companies such as Borders, and various committees in the Chapter 11 filings of Adelphia and Enron. We spoke with him in June. Q: Is there a huge upswing in demand for bankruptcy lawyers during tough economic times like these? A: We tend to be about as …
James Lobsenz Rewrites the Rules
How a Seattle appellate lawyer helped end 'don’t ask, don’t tell'Asked what his immediate thoughts were when Maj. Margaret Witt, a 17-year Air Force veteran, came to his office in July 2004 and told him she was being investigated under the U.S. government’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, James Lobsenz pauses. “I’m sure I had a lot of immediate thoughts,” he says finally. Prompted on by the fact that, a year earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas had recognized a constitutional right to intimate consensual sexual conduct, and …
Fearless
Sara Azari fled Khomeini-era Iran, practiced law in Rio and defends the worst of the worstQ: In your work as a criminal defense attorney, is there one type of offense you see more than others? A: I tend to represent a lot of individuals who have been accused of sex offenses and drugs. It’s a wide spectrum—especially sex offenses. They could be charged with possession or distribution of child pornography. There are a lot of allegations of misconduct with minors. But I have a general criminal defense practice, so I handle anything from a DUI to a homicide. Q: Do you ever …
Long-Term Care
Estate planning and probate attorney Carol Kao talks with her clients about the two certainties of life: death and taxesQ: Any thoughts on the Obama tax deal from last December from an estate tax perspective? A: It was a nice surprise. It’s providing the taxpayers an opportunity in the next couple of years to do some tax planning that was not available in the past. Q: By “taxpayers,” you mean anyone with an estate worth more than $1 million, correct? A: That’s right. Without the change, for 2011, we would’ve gone back down to a $1 million-dollar estate-and-gift-tax credit with a maximum rate of …
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