News

The Minnesota State Bar Association’s (MSBA) New Lawyers Section has named Kyle Kroll ’16 as the 2019-20 recipient of its Outstanding New Lawyer of the Year award.

Kroll, who serves as an adjunct Legal Research and Writing professor at Minnesota Law, is an associate with Winthrop & Weinstine. His complex commercial litigation practice includes class action, antitrust and unfair competition, false advertising, intellectual property, and utilities matters.

Duane E. Joseph ’53, a partner with Minneapolis-based Dorsey & Whitney for more than 40 years and a steadfast Minnesota Law benefactor, passed away peacefully in Bonita Springs, Florida, on June 1. He was 91 and had been living with Parkinson’s disease for a number of years.

Intimate Lies and the Law, Professor Jill Hasday’s acclaimed book on the laws governing our closest personal relationships, won a gold medal in the annual Foreword INDIES Book of the Year series. Hasday’s book, published by Oxford University Press in 2019, took top honors in the family and relationships category. It also won a bronze medal in the women’s studies category. The Foreword INDIES are open to books published by university or independent presses. This year, more than 2,100 titles were entered in 55 categories.

Linda Lokensgard, who served as the Law School’s director of facilities and events for 28 years and retired from that post in 2017, passed away peacefully at her home in St. Paul on May 21. She was 58.

Born and raised in Virginia, Minnesota, Lokensgard was a graduate of the University of Minnesota Duluth. In her position at the Minnesota Law, she had, in the words of Dean Garry W. Jenkins, “a tremendous impact on our Law School community and was a great friend to many here.”

Tom Johnson ’70, who served as Hennepin County Attorney from 1979 to 1991, died June 8 at his home in Minneapolis after a six-year battle with advanced prostate cancer. He was 75.

Raised on a farm in northern Minnesota, Johnson graduated from Duluth Central High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in physics at the University of Minnesota before enrolling at Minnesota Law. In 1972, he worked on the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern, and the following year he ran successfully for a seat on the Minneapolis City Council, where he served for four years.

Judge Toddrick S. Barnette ’92, who has served for 14 years on the Hennepin County District Court bench, was last month elected by his peers to serve as chief judge of the Hennepin County District Court. He will take over his new position on July 1, becoming the first chief judge of color in the court’s history. Before joining the bench, Barnette served as a senior attorney in the Office of the Hennepin County Attorney and, prior to that, a senior attorney in the Office of the Hennepin County Public Defender.

Rising 3L Rachel Wydra, who has been living in her hometown of Downers Grove, Illinois, since classes at the Law School went remote last March, was motivated to take action when news came of the brutal killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Working with other residents of the village, a leafy, boutique-filled suburb of Chicago, she organized a grassroots campaign for greater transparency in local policing policies.

Professor Maria Ponomarenko is one of eight legal scholars who released a list of urgently-needed reforms to address enduring problems in American policing. 

When Professor Perry Moriearty put a call out for Minnesota Law students and recent graduates to help individuals arrested protesting the tragic killing of George Floyd, she had no idea that, only four hours later, she’d have 100-plus volunteers register for training.

“It was incredible,” said Moriearty, who had asked only a handful of students to get the word out.

Kurt BlueDog ’77, a major figure in American Indian advocacy, jurisprudence, and legislation for more than four decades, died May 12 of complications from cancer. He was 70.

BlueDog grew up in Waubay, South Dakota, attending Enemy Swim Day School and Waubay High School. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of South Dakota in 1972 and served as a signal officer with the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division before enrolling at Minnesota Law.