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
Philadephia Born and Bred
Workers’ comp attorney Samuel H. Pond, one of the founders of Pond Lehocky Stern Giordano, draws on his blue-collar background to create a successful practiceQ: What first got you interested in the law? A: My father was a union member for 35 years. He was always very much involved in the union movement. They had to turn to lawyers to be able to strike, collectively bargain and those types of things. He always taught me about the importance of the rule of law. But I don’t think I ever had that affinity until I got into undergraduate school at Drexel University, and started thinking about going out and representing the folks that I grew up with. …
Ann of All Trades
Over the course of her 27-year career, from construction to employment to insurance to lobbying law, Ann Maloney Conway of Keleher & McLeod in Albuquerque has loved anything that gets her into the courtroomQ: You’ve studied all over the country: Notre Dame, the University of Puget Sound, and Eastern New Mexico University. Is there a story there? A: I’m a native New Mexican. My father was in the second world war, and when he came back, he had just started practicing law when he became ill with multiple sclerosis. There was a hospital in Washington where my grandmother took him for care. So when I was looking at schools, we had just happened to be going to Tacoma to visit a couple of the nuns …
The Great Generalist
Jon Laramore of Baker & Daniels on how the lessons he learned working in government—in both civil and criminal arenas—give him a leg up in his appellate law practiceQ: What led you to appellate law? A: I began to do appellate law in government. I worked in state government for 16 years, 12 of which were in the state attorney general offices. I just had many opportunities to pursue appellate work in that context. I came to find out that I enjoyed it, and the more I did, the more I learned. Ultimately, that attracts clients. Q: What was it about the work that you enjoyed? A: It’s work that’s more centered on development of the law. Generally, the …
The Problem Solver
Former IRS attorney Jaye A. Calhoun of McGlinchey Stafford on how tax law can be a bit like the Wild West or NintendoQ: What first got you interested in the law? A: I love a good puzzle, and practicing law is really about problem-solving. I have this opportunity to help businesses and individuals succeed in accomplishing their goals and saving money by understanding the rules in a complex area. It definitely has its high points. I got into [tax law] originally because, in law school, I met all these very bright people, and even they were intimidated when we heard about tax law. So it was a challenge in the …
Standing Up to Bullies
Playwright-turned-litigator Hank Bates of Carney Williams Bates Pulliam & Bowman in Little Rock goes up against those who prey on the poorQ: What first got you interested in the law? A: On the worldview level, I was interested in doing something from a social change perspective. In my practice, I’ve always done nonprofit or social interest or plaintiff’s work, which I’ve always seen as a sort of public interest work. On the gut level, I’ve always rooted for underdogs and don’t like bullies. A lot of what I do, at least in my mind, is sue bullies. I’m not anti-corporation—my law firm’s a corporation—but they are …
Gail McCann Brings People Together
The real estate attorney at Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge in Providence facilitates collaboration in her law practice and in her alumni activities at Brown UniversityQ: What first got you interested in the law? A: I was an American history major at Brown University, and a lot of history majors go on to law school. So it was always in the back of my mind. Then I went away for my junior year to The University of Edinburgh [Scotland], and when I came back, all sorts of people I knew were applying to med school and law school. I said, “I guess I better get serious about my life.” I have to say that my father was an indirect influence. He wasn’t a lawyer, …
Mary Daniel Finds Her Voice
How the healthcare attorney learned to speak upMary Daniel grew up as a member of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, where she was taught that brevity was the soul of wit. That’s good advice, surely, but it made law school a challenge. “Culturally, I was taught that you don’t talk to be talking—you choose your words carefully,” Daniel says. “When I went to law school, it was completely different. So I had to learn to use my words a lot more. Now I’m much more comfortable. I have an affinity now for asking questions.” …
Scientific inquiry
Sharon M. Woods, of Barris, Sott, Denn & Driker, applies scientific thinking to her business litigation practiceQ: We don’t see a lot of biology majors who become lawyers. How did you end up taking that particular path? A: Actually, my major is in biology and I also have a teaching minor in mathematics [from the University of Detroit]. People that have gone through in science seem to gravitate to the law just because of the organization of thought that’s required in the science curriculum. You’ll find that a lot of engineers also gravitate to the law after they finish an engineering degree. It …
The Quiet Passion of Shamus O’Meara
The Johnson & Condon attorney advocates for those with developmental disabilitiesIn June 2008, Shamus O’Meara was working at the Edina office of Johnson & Condon when he heard the awful news: Keith Kennedy, a 25-year-old with developmental disabilities, had gone missing from a special needs camp in Wisconsin and was lost in the woods. O’Meara was shocked. Linda Kennedy, Keith’s mother, had been one of the first professionals to work with O’Meara’s oldest son, Conor, who is autistic, at the Rondo Early Education Program in St. Paul several years earlier. The …
Team Player
Richard Meneghello promotes collaboration—in court and on the soccer fieldRichard Meneghello was nervous. He’d spent weeks drafting briefs and crafting the oral argument for the fast-tracked Albertsons, Inc. v. Kirkingburg, a disability discrimination case that came before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1999. The case involved a truck driver with degenerative vision loss in one eye who lost his commercial driver’s license. He had worked for Albertsons, but the grocery chain would no longer let him drive. The man obtained a waiver from the Department of Transportation …
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