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Tom Nelson has been selected by Minnesota lawyers for several years as one of Minnesota’s leading attorneys. He is the 2008 recipient of the Hennepin County Bar Association Attorney Professionalism Award, presented annually to the Association member "who best exemplifies the pursuit of the practice of law as a profession, including a spirit of public service and promotion of the highest possible level of competence, integrity and ethical conduct." He is our law firm’s recipient of the 2009 Pro Bono Award for Outstanding Legal Service in the Public Interest, arising out of his work with the University of Minnesota Law School Guantanamo Defense Project. He is presently Chairman of the Hennepin County Bar Association Bar Memorial Committee, serving as its liaison to the Board of Directors of the Hennepin County Bar Association; and he is also serving as our law firm’s representative on the Hennepin County Bench & Bar Subcommittee regarding the Minnesota Judicial Branch Budget Crisis. He recently served on the United States Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel, upon his appointment by then United States District Court Chief Judge James Rosenbaum. He was recently appointed to the Board of Directors of The Givens Foundation for African American Literature. He presently also serves on the Board of Directors of the Landmark Center in St. Paul (one of Minnesota’s most significant historic buildings and the location for many years of Minnesota’s United States District Court), and was recently recognized for his leadership in connection with the Federal Bar Association’s 2007 conference on the 150th Anniversary of the infamous Dred Scott decision (a case with significant Minnesota connections). He is on the Board of Directors of Norway House; is a member of the Norwegian-American Chamber of Commerce; has been admitted to the Douglas K. Amdahl Inn of Court; and serves as a commissioner on the City of Bloomington Charter Commission. He is our law firm’s representative for Twin Cities/Diversity in Practice [www.diversityinpractice.org]. He has been recognized as one of Minnesota’s "Super Lawyers®" every year since the inception of that annual distinction in the 1990’s. He was recently selected for inclusion in the 2009 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® in the arena of Commercial Litigation.
In terms of practice areas, Tom’s legal career started out (and somewhat continues) in the realm of "Door Law" (meaning, whatever comes in the door). Along the way, Tom has handled some "interesting" matters, including representing one company in a lawsuit brought by Alice the Cat; and then later representing two Cairn Terriers names Gus and Loki in their claim against the neighborhood Pit Bull. He has represented a federally imprisoned, espionage-related defendant in extended habeas corpus proceedings, and effected the arrest of an ocean-going merchant vessel in the New Haven harbor pursuant to applicable maritime law. He has represented Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows in commercial, contract and municipal regulatory matters. And his First Amendment work has included trials and disputes involving alleged AIDS-related and (alleged) mob-related defamation claims against newspapers; opinion-related defamation claims against public officials; and medical "quackery" defamation-related claims against what was known as the American Quack Association.
More traditionally (perhaps), Tom has handled commercial litigation (i.e., lawsuits about money) involving, among other things, mechanical heart valve contract supply disputes, sales representative contractual commissions, shareholder disputes, investor/broker claims, computer technology and equipment, condemnation and adverse possession, and real estate development option agreements (e.g., D.R. Horton v. Radintz, Minnesota Court of Appeals: February 12, 2008). He has also defended products ranging from trucks to table saws, and from exploding electrical switch gear and natural gas pipelines to saline-filled breast implants. Tom’s long-time work with the design professional and construction communities has included defending claims involving allegedly sinking buildings as well as allegedly sagging high school gymnasium roof trusses. His employment-related work has included a wide range of non-compete and duty-of-loyalty litigation. His insurance, reinsurance and risk management work has included broker professional negligence and agent liability, coverage disputes, non-compete litigation, policy and coverage negotiation (including MGA and MGU liability), space satellite reinsurance brokerage, reinsurance treaty interpretation, and civil investigative demands (CID’s). He is a member of ARIAS-US. His corporate work has ranged from brewery-related lease negotiations, to the creation (and then sale) of a highly sophisticated, engineering-related, invention-based emerging corporation, to advising businesses on doing business with Native American tribes, to law firm "divorces" and break-ups. In the financial enterprise world, he has served as lead defense counsel in credit cardholder class action litigation, and also as counsel with respect to lender liability claims, bankruptcy and work-out matters, and credit card fraud investigation. Along the way, he has drafted and negotiated a wide range of commercial contracts and corporate governing documents, and consults regularly on company ownership arrangements and ownership transition services as, in effect, "outside general counsel."
Prior to practicing law, Tom was a founder, teacher and administrator of an innovative public high school in New Haven called High School in the Community- a school still working successfully and creatively to educate the students of New Haven. During that time, he also served on the faculty and advisory board of the Cloverdale Project, a residential summer educational program for high school students in the foothills of the Nevada desert. After law school, he clerked for two terms (1977 and 1978) for Judge Thomas J. Meskill of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, sitting in New York City. Tom began his legal career with the Connecticut law firm of Tyler Cooper, and returned to Minnesota in 1983.
PROFESSIONAL AND CIVIC ACTIVITIES
Immediate Past Chairman, History Committee, U.S. District Court
(Minnesota)
Past member, Board of Directors, Federal Bar Association
Past member, Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Committee, upon the
appointment of then Chief Judge Paul Magnuson of the U.S. District
Court (Minnesota)
Past member, Board of Directors, St. Olaf College Alumni Association
Past member, Board of Directors, The Playwrights’ Center
Past member, Board of Directors, The Izaak Walton League (Bush Lake)
Past co-chair, St. Olaf CollegeLiberal Arts and the Law Conferences
Past (and founding) Chair, Arts Law Committee, Minnesota State
Bar Association
Past member, Arts Midwest Task Force on Freedom of Expression
Past member, Minneapolis Arts Commission
Past member, Bloomington Parks, Arts and Recreation Commission
Past member, Bloomington City Council’s Bush Lake Advisory Committee;
and also the Bloomington City Council’s Task Force on Public Facilities
(leading to the approval, design, construction and completion of
Bloomington’s new City Hall, Police Station and Public Works Facility).
Member, Bloomington Charter Commission
Member, Minneapolis Club (serving on the House or Facility Committee);
Minnesota Valley Golf Club
Member, West Immanuel Lutheran Church, Star Prairie, Wisconsin, and
Mindekirken, the Norwegian Lutheran Church of Minneapolis
EDUCATION
J.D., University of Connecticut School of Law, 1977
Law Review, Administrative Editor
M.A.R., Yale University, 1971
B.A., St. Olaf College, 1969
Phi Beta Kappa
ADMISSIONS
State of Minnesota
State of Connecticut |
