About Ross Pfund
Ross Pfund is the managing editor of Super Lawyers. He is the editor of the Minnesota, Colorado, Massachusetts, Louisiana and Southwest magazines. An award-winning editor and writer with more than 20 years of experience, he has a journalism degree from the University of Minnesota. His work has also appeared in the Star Tribune and the Norman County Index. As a child, he knew he was cut out for a career in journalism because he never once stuck his hand into his father’s printing press.
Articles written by Ross Pfund
First One In, Last One Out
Michael D. Sirota makes it his business to work harder than the competitionAs a teenager, Michael D. Sirota was a middle-of-the-road student. No one in his family had graduated from college, and he was content fixing bicycles at a local shop. “Looking back, I can say that I wasn’t setting the highest standards for myself,” says Sirota. His mom had other ideas. “Being brutally honest, I think she was concerned that, not being the best child in the world, if I didn’t go on [to college], God knows what could happen.” So Sirota enrolled at Ramapo College of …
Preparation, the High Road and Elliott Levin
The Rubin & Levin partner speaks on bankruptcy law and why he never underprepares for a caseWhat first got you interested in the law? I thought that I needed a profession to be able to enjoy my life, make a good living and try to help people. I had a choice between being a lawyer and being a physician, and I chose being a lawyer. I’m the first member of my family to be a lawyer, but since that time, both of my daughters have gone through law school and practiced law. I enjoyed being able to use my mind, and, for example, negotiation is an art, not a science. Knowing how to negotiate …
Ethics, Dignity and Judy Barrasso
The Barrasso Usdin Kupperman Freeman & Sarver attorney speaks on the importance of details and why she’s been in trial so often in the past five yearsOur interview was rescheduled because you suddenly had to travel for work. Do you get called out of town quite a bit? It’s very cyclical. Our firm does a lot of cases across the Gulf South and in addition there’s often times where you’re handling a case that’s here but the clients are from elsewhere. For example, right now we’re representing a Brazilian company and we anticipate that there’s possibly going to be some depositions in Brazil as we fight about jurisdiction. Are …
Mike McLaren Keeps It Simple
The litigator on practicing law in court and on the screenLitigator Mike McLaren of Black McLaren Jones Ryland & Griffee in Memphis boasts a varied practice, working in business litigation, medical malpractice defense and environmental law. He also has a varied listing on IMDB.com, having appeared in seven movies in various roles, including a judge, a basketball player and a psychiatrist smitten with Sandra Bullock. What inspired you to pursue the law as a career? Well, I went to Yale as an undergraduate and there was a lawyer in Memphis whose son …
A Q&A with Daniel Papermaster
On hosting the Clinton-Dole debate and working with Joe Lieberman for decadesCorporate finance attorney Dan Papermaster, who was named managing partner of Bingham McCutchen’s Hartford office in late 2008, is a longtime participant in Connecticut civic affairs and politics. He chaired the organizing committee that hosted Hartford’s 1996 debate between President Bill Clinton and Sen. Bob Dole. Papermaster has also worked closely with Sen. Joe Lieberman for decades. What inspired you to pursue the law as a career? That’s an interesting question. Let’s see ... I …
Warsaw Pact
While growing up in Poland, St. Louis litigator Zofia A. Garlicka pledged to become a lawyer, just like her legendary fatherFor Zofia A. Garlicka, a career in law always seemed like the only choice. As a child, she was fascinated by the dinner-table legal talk of her law professor father. “My grandfather was also an attorney, and my dad’s cousin is an attorney, so I grew up with a lot of lawyers around,” she says. “They would always have stories about the changes in Poland—with communism ending and the new democracy coming back in. They always made it look like it was the best profession in the world.” …
Marsh Halberg’s Equal Protection
Criminal defense lawyer Marsh Halberg gives all clients his best, even the questionable ones, so he can stay sharp for the innocentsMarsh Halberg is a do-it-yourselfer. When he left Thomsen Nybeck in 2004 to create Halberg Criminal Defense alongside Eric Nelson and Tina Appleby, he wasn’t content to find any old office. Instead he grabbed a good chunk of the top floor of the Northland Plaza building just off 494 and France in Bloomington; then he and Nelson began personally constructing the office of their dreams. “I just enjoy design and architecture,” Halberg says. “I traveled to LA and spent a couple of days …
On the Level
Construction lawyer Adam Richins isn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves for clientsIt was the summer of 2001 and Adam Richins, an engineer fresh out of Columbia University, was working on developing and installing a new security screening system during the expansion of Seattle’s Sea-Tac Airport. “With an airport, you have the facilities, the ticket counters and all that stuff,” he explains, “but behind the scenes, you have an elaborate system of how to get bags where and when.” Then, in September, progress halted. “When 9/11 hit, [the airport] put a stop on …
Did You Know There Are 22 Tribes in New Mexico?
Lynn Slade does and has made it his life’s work to understand Indian lawAny lawyer can tell you how to handle a case on U.S. soil. But on Indian land? That’s another story. Lynn Slade understands those challenges better than most––he’s been handling cases on tribal land for decades. “There’s a difference in the legal environment that you’re functioning in,” Slade says. “The law that’s applicable to transactions in a state is state law. But if you’re dealing with a tribe in any state, the law that’s applicable is primarily federal law and …
In Pat Robertson’s Orbit
Lou Isakoff went from the Christian Broadcast Network to Regent UniversityWhen you’re the general counsel and vice president of Pat Robertson’s Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., there’s no such thing as an average day; but Lou Isakoff thinks this has less to do with Robertson, or the university, than the “general” in general counsel. “Unless you have a very large legal department, I think general counsels are a lot like the old-time general practitioners,” he says. “You don’t have the luxury of specializing, so every day’s going to be …
Find top lawyers with confidence
The Super Lawyers patented selection process is peer influenced and research driven, selecting the top 5% of attorneys to the Super Lawyers lists each year. We know lawyers and make it easy to connect with them.
Find a lawyer near you