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
Family Law in the Pandemic
From questions about co-parenting arrangements to delays in court proceedings to the shift to remote proceedings, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge effect on family law matters. As soon as the pandemic hit in early 2020, the questions started rolling in. “Family law lawyers are constantly dealing with emergencies and fires,” says Eliza Steinberg, a family law attorney at Griffiths Law in Lone Tree, Colorado. “Immediately, the phones started ringing off the hook with concerns about …
Critical Save
‘Pro Bono Paladin’ Mark Surprenant lives up to the monikerThere are pro bono partners and there are pro bono coordinators, but there’s only one pro bono paladin. Mark Surprenant had the title bestowed upon him by a fellow lawyer at Adams & Reese to honor Surprenant’s hands-on leadership. “It’s certainly different, that’s for sure,” he says with a laugh. The of counsel attorney at the firm’s New Orleans office has been involved in pro bono work since volunteering at the Rhode Island Legal Aid Society after his first year of law …
Cannabis Business in Arizona: The Basics
On November 3, 2020, Arizona voters passed Proposition 207 with nearly 60% of the vote. The initiative legalizes the adult use of recreational cannabis and allows for marijuana to be taxed on the state and local levels. Justin M. Brandt, who handles cannabis law and real estate matters at Bianchi & Brandt in Scottsdale, wasn’t surprised that Prop 207 passed. “All the polls that we were seeing, particularly in Arizona, indicated that it had a lot of support,” he says. “In the past …
How To Form a Union
Many workers may be interested in exploring how forming a union could help keep them safe in the workplace and protect their employee rights. Employment and labor attorney Joe LeBlanc of LeBlanc Law & Mediation in Minneapolis has seen increased interest amongst workers in starting up union-organizing campaigns. “A lot of the times,” LeBlanc says, “things that really get people motivated to organize a union campaign are safety issues... For example, are they getting the right …
Elder Law in New York During the Pandemic
Like many New York lawyers, Fern Finkel of Finkel & Fernandez law firm in Brooklyn transitioned to working remotely in mid-March. That’s created challenges, such as the need to help clients set up videoconferencing software to facilitate remote meetings. New Orders in Place During Coronavirus Pandemic However, two of Gov. Cuomo’s executive orders, 202.7 and 202.14, which allow for the remote notarization and witnessing of documents, have helped ease the burden on New Yorkers who want to …
COVID Employment Questions Answered
Employees in Minnesota have plenty of questions in connection to the COVID-19 pandemic. Are you entitled to: Sick leave for COVID-related reasons? What can you do if your employer isn’t adequately protecting your workspace? Is working from a home office covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? We spoke with employment lawyer David Schlesinger of Nichols Kaster in Minneapolis, who shed some light on these directives and concerns. What Concerns Are You Hearing From Employees About …
How COVID-19 Is Affecting Family Law Matters
We recently spoke to family law attorney Marc Kaplan of Ciancio Ciancio Brown in Denver, who shared what he’s been hearing from clients in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as his thoughts on how the public health crisis might continue to affect the legal system moving forward. How Has the Pandemic Affected Your Practice? It’s changed in terms of logistics: Working from home; doing things virtually. But also, the focus is different. You can’t turn on the TV or the radio …
Helping Where He Can
Ryan Schildkraut contributes to the effort to support craft brewing employees during the COVID-19 pandemicOn the day before an expected “shelter in place” directive from Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Ryan Schildkraut has a lot to grapple with. “It’s unnerving,” says the mergers and acquisitions lawyer with Winthrop & Weinstine in Minneapolis. “I’m used to being the subject matter expert, getting questions all day that I pretty much always know the answer to—and if I don’t know the answer, I know how to find the answer. The last two weeks, I’ve been getting questions that I’ve …
From the Depths of Hell to a Courtroom in Madison
Jeff Simmons finds himself in the middle of a battle between two comic book titansSince his comics debut in 1992, CIA operative-turned-resurrected-demonic antihero Al Simmons—better known as Spawn—has fought some epic battles. He’s survived having his heart ripped out by his archnemesis Violator; he’s decapitated the ruler of the Eighth Sphere of Hell with an angelic sword. He’s even gone toe-to-toe with Batman. But the real-life legal battle over some of Spawn’s allies might top any of these fictional skirmishes. Within a year of the launch of the Spawn comic, …
A Channeling in Billings
Chaos erupted after Steve Harman employed a Spence-style courtroom tacticIn 2008, I was trying a medical malpractice case in my hometown of Billings. My client, a 40-year-old widow and mother of four young children, was suing for the untimely death of her husband, whom we claimed ought to have been referred for heart surgery for a known murmur. The autopsy revealed a grossly enlarged heart in the late stages of heart failure. During jury selection, the judge refused to excuse three nurses, who were less than receptive to our case against a local physician and the …
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