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
At the President’s Side
Marc Kaplan looks back on his days in the Jimmy Carter administrationAt the 1980 Democratic National Convention in New York City, Marc Kaplan was overseeing credentialing to determine who was allowed inside Madison Square Garden when he got a phone call from the White House. President Jimmy Carter was going to the convention hotel across the street and Kaplan, at 22 years old, was asked if he wanted to be the advance person, meaning that among other duties, he'd be responsible for the logistics of getting the president down to his motorcade safely. “I had …
From Student Council to the Senate Judiciary Committee
Senator Amy Klobuchar speaks on her life in law and public serviceWhen you were in private practice, was the idea that you would eventually go into public service? I always was interested in public service, and I have been involved from the time I ran for secretary-treasurer of the Wayzata High School student council—where I saved the prom by raising money with Life Savers lollipops—to the work that I had done on political campaigns. I had worked for Mondale when I was in college for a summer, and by the time I ended up at Dorsey & Whitney after law …
How To Find a Good Personal Injury Attorney
Choosing the right personal injury lawyer can be an intimidating prospect. It's a task that will involve more than a simple Google search or online ad. You will have to consult with personal injury lawyers to figure out who is a good fit for you and your case. Personal injury law is a huge practice area and covers many legal issues. It includes everything from wrongful death, car accidents, property damage, and product liability to medical malpractice cases. When a person or company causes you …
Paula Greisen Discusses 303 Creative v. Elenis
The civil rights lawyer on what makes it different from the Masterpiece cases and how SCOTUS may rule on itOn February 22, news broke that the U.S. Supreme Court had agreed to hear arguments in 303 Creative v. Elenis, making it the next big stage for tensions between LGBTQ rights and religious beliefs. The case centers on Colorado-based website designer Lorie Smith, who ran afoul of the state’s anti-discrimination laws while intending to post a notice on her business’s website that she would refuse to create sites promoting same-sex marriages. She sued the state in 2016 over the law, seeking to …
Why Figure Skater Kalina Valieva Will Continue Competing
Sports lawyer Bill Bock weighs in on the controversy at the OlympicsThe 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing are in full swing, but one controversy has threatened to overshadow the competition. Early in the games, a Stockholm-based testing laboratory flagged a sample from 15-year-old figure skater Kalina Valieva of Russia—the odds-on favorite to win the women’s individual event—for trimetazidine, a banned substance often connected with doping. On February 13, a panel of judges from the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Valieva would be allowed to …
Perfect Fit
How Isabel Bonilla-Mathé ended up exactly where she needed to beAfter college, Isabel Bonilla-Mathé took a break from her healthcare administration job in Miami to visit family in her father’s country of birth, El Salvador. “I sat out on a lake and I was like, what do I want to do?” she remembers. Law was an option. On her mom’s side, her great-grandfather and several other family members had been lawyers in Cuba. “My grandfather was in his last year of law school when he had to leave,” she says. “People scrambled and took out what they could …
A Look at Criminal Record Expungement in Indiana
For those who live in Indiana, there are a number of reasons to consider having your criminal record expunged—job searching chief among them. “A lot of times when you fill out an application for employment, you've got to put down if you’ve ever been convicted of a crime,” says Katelyn H. Juerling, a litigator at Norris Choplin Schroeder in Indianapolis who has handled expungement matters since she was in law school. “So, people will get passed over because of that. After you've had an …
'As Iron Sharpens Iron'
Mike Blumenthal’s journey into the martial artsIn the fall of 1990, Mike Blumenthal was a University of Kansas School of Law student looking for a way to blow off steam. “I don’t play basketball, and I had a steady girlfriend,” he says. “I wrestled growing up, and I missed that type of exercise, frankly. I fell into a martial arts studio in Lawrence. I had a great teacher there and it was a bug that bit me—I never stopped.” But he did start again. Although he was close to attaining a black belt in taekwondo during law school, a …
Legal Cannabis and Criminal Record Expungement in Illinois
On January 1, 2020, Illinois' Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act went into effect. The law allows Illinois residents 21 and older to legally possess small amounts of cannabis and marijuana-infused products. It also paved the way for the automatic expungement of infractions classified as “minor cannabis offenses," meaning that there’s a way to have those offenses removed from your criminal record. Find a criminal defense attorney for legal help in expunging or sealing a cannabis-related …
What You Need To Get a Criminal Record Expungement
To get a criminal record expungement, you must determine legal eligibility, pass the statutory waiting period, and file an expungement petition. Petitioners must serve government agencies with the draft hearing notice, obtain criminal history records, pay filing fees or submit a fee waiver, and schedule court hearings. Submit the proposed order to seal your court records for a clear background check. You must get the prosecutor's agreement, complete probation terms, and attend court hearings …
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