MINNESOTA
CHAPTER

I’m delighted to welcome you to the 2024-2025 bar year of the Minnesota Chapter of the Federal Bar Association! It’s an honor to serve as the President of the Chapter, with its strong and vibrant history, membership, and participation. I’d like to begin by thanking the Immediate Past President Katie Barrett WiIk, who led the Chapter in a successful 2023-2024 bar year, including Court Camp, the Federal Practice Seminar, our Monthly Luncheon series, the ever-popular Judges’ Dinner Dance, and numerous substantive presentations by the Chapter’s practice groups. I’d also like to acknowledge the leadership shown by all of our Past Presidents, as each Chapter President stands on the shoulders of those who previously served in that role. One of the things I’m most excited about is that our Chapter will be hosting the 2025 FBA Annual Meeting and Convention from September 11-13, 2025, at The Depot in Minneapolis. I know the co-chairs of our Annual Meeting and Convention Committee, Jeanette Bazis, Kyle Kroll, and Adine Momoh, are working hard to make this event a great success. This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the beautiful City of Minneapolis, the great State of Minnesota, and the strength and collegiality of our Chapter. As a reminder from the co-chairs, the Minnesota Chapter is hosting the 2025 Annual Meeting and Convention after many FBA leaders from across the country have been asking us to do so for many years, and this will be a great networking opportunity for Minnesota practitioners—including at the evening reception on September 12, 2025. Stay tuned for more details on how you can help, including with providing sponsorships for this very important event. ​In the meantime, Chapter leadership is working hard to ensure we have another successful bar year. I’m pleased to announce the formation of the new Antitrust Practice Group, which will be co-chaired by Holley Horrell, Michelle Looby, and Stacey Slaughter. I look forward to the Antitrust Practice Group’s upcoming events, along with events planned by the Intellectual Property; White Collar, Compliance, and Criminal Law; Civil Discovery; and Mass Tort, Multi-District Litigation, and Class Action Practice Groups. The substantive events put on by our Chapter’s Practice Groups do much to further the education and professional development of Minnesota practitioners, consistent with the mission of the Chapter and the National FBA. Turning to other FBA goals, I’d like to emphasize the Chapter’s ongoing commitment to the values of diversity and inclusion —which was formalized in 2001 with the formation of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee. We are fortunate to have U.S. Magistrate Judge John F. Docherty, Aaron Knoll, and Natasha Townes Robinson continue as our Vice Presidents for Diversity & Inclusion this year, and I anticipate another year of important programming from that Committee. The Chapter is also a strong proponent of law school outreach, including by offering free membership to law students, and I hope we can all support the efforts of our Law School Outreach co-chairs Megan Helstrom and Zac McFarland this year. One of my personal goals as President is to increase volunteerism for the Pro Se Project. The Pro Se Project seeks to connect volunteer lawyers with unrepresented individuals who receive a Court referral to the Project. Volunteer lawyers may agree to consult with a pro se litigant about their case, represent a pro se litigant for purposes of the litigation, or represent a pro se litigant in a limited capacity for settlement purposes. There are many attorneys who have consistently volunteered for the Pro Se Project, and their contributions are very much appreciated. But additional volunteers would be very much appreciated! There are still litigants who cannot be placed even for a consultation, and it would be wonderful to have a larger panel of volunteer attorneys. If you have questions about how you can help, please reach out to the Pro Se Project Coordinator Jackie Bailey at coordinator@proseproject.org, Pro Se Project Coordinators U.S. Magistrate Judge Dulce J. Foster and Brittany Resch, or me directly. Let me flag another opportunity for lawyers particularly newer lawyers writing an article for our award winning Bar Talk quarterly newsletter. Bar Talk is co-chaired this year by Devin Driscoll, Mary Nikolai, Alyssa Schaefer, and Gina Tonn. Co-chairing Bar Talk is an extremely demanding role. Volunteering to write an article for one of the issues can be a great way to contribute to our Chapter and get a little publicity. If you’re serving on a Chapter Committee or Practice Group, I encourage you to write an article about one of your events. And for those planning events, please remember to identify a member to write an article about that event and be sure to let the Bar Talk co-chairs know about the event and who is authoring the article. This year we anticipate another strong monthly luncheon series. Many thanks to last year’s Monthly Meeting Vice Presidents U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez, Hennepin County Judge Kristen Marttila, and Kyle Kroll for a fascinating set of speakers. I’m confident that this year’s Monthly Meeting Vice Presidents U.S. Magistrate Judge Doug Micko, Kelly Fermoyle, and Bibi Metsch-Garcia will give us an equally strong series, beginning in September with David Douglass, who is monitoring the Minneapolis Police Department under both state and federal consent decrees. I’m also looking forward to the Judges’ Dinner Dance, Court Camp, the Golf Tournament, and the Newer Lawyers’ Committee events. You may see some changes to some of these events as the Chapter evaluates the interests and wishes of our membership and the economics (for our Chapter and sponsors) going forward. You may also see a survey or two to assess our members’ opinions, and if you do, please respond, or simply reach out with opinions and ideas—after all, this is your Chapter. Finally, if you’re looking for a way to get more involved with the FBA this year, please check out our Chapter’s initiatives, Committees, and Practice Groups on the Chapter website at https://www.mnfedbar.org/initiatives. You never know where it can lead.