President's Page: Serving Minnesotans in Many Ways

Reprinted with permission from Minnesota Association for Justice, Summer 2007

We are often perceived as an organization which only fights for consumers in the courtroom. However, our service to Minnesotans goes well beyond just the courts.

Serving Minnesotans at the Legislature: On behalf of the Minnesota consumers we are so privileged to represent, we spent this past legislative session on the attack. This is good. This is right. This is just.

Having spent so many years fighting tooth and nail to stop the ongoing degradation of consumer rights and the civil justice system, it is about time we reframed the debate. This year the debate at the Capital was how lawmakers can level the playing field between Minnesotans and corporate wrongdoers who put projects over people; not how to benefit wrongdoers at the expense of ordinary families.

This is only the beginning. While consumer causes ultimately did not receive a vote in the eleventh hour of the legislative session, the focus was on justice over corporate greed. This was true despite the tortfeasor's well financed marketing campaign of half-truths. While we will not likely ever be able to compete dollar for dollar with the money spent by big corporate industries, we have something much more powerful: Truth and Justice.

Right now, we are taking the truth to every corner of our state. I ask for your help in doing so. We need clients who are willing to tell their stories about how corporations ' refusal to treat Minnesotans with good faith and fair dealing has caused consumers to suffer. Please contact the Minnesota Association for Justice to help at 612-375-1797 / 800-898-6852 or mnaj@mnaf.org. With your help and that of your clients, we will make a difference to help Minnesotans.

Serving Our Communities: We are also reframing the debate on the image of our profession. The Minnesota Association for Justice is committed to service to those who so badly need our help. Now, we are doing more than just helping people seek justice in the courts and at the Capital. We are helping those in need. This year, we initiated the "lids for Kids" campaign and gave bike helmets to children in need in hopes that they never become head injury victims. In addition, our Women for Justice Section has changed so many lives by providing for the basic needs of families through Avenues for Homeless Youth. Now, our New Lawyers[' Section has launched a challenge to the Minnesota Defense Layers' Association to match contributions to the Sabathani Community Center.

Also throughout my travels across the state over the past year, I have heard story after story of how our individual members are doing good for their communities. We'd like to know about each and every one of those stories, so please contact us and let us know.

Lastly, I wish to thank each of you for the honor and privilege of being able to serve this great organization in this mission to serve others. We will continue to serve Minnesotans in our courts, the Capital, and in our communities and this will always be the focus of our future.