Three Partners Named to Minnesota Lawyer’s POWER 30: Business Litigation List

October 19, 2023

Robins Kaplan LLP is pleased to announce that partners Ronald Schutz, Eric Magnuson, and Michael Collyard have been recognized on Minnesota Lawyer’s POWER 30: Business Litigation list, honoring the state’s top business litigators.

According to Minnesota Lawyer, this list was compiled based on interviews with respected attorneys and other leaders around the state, as well as a review of the attorneys’ achievements and outcomes of significant cases.

Ronald Schutz serves as chair of the firm’s Executive Board. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, which is the preeminent organization of trial lawyers in North America. Becoming a Fellow is by invitation only and membership is limited to 1% of the total lawyer population. He has won a nine-figure and multiple eight-figure jury verdicts, and has secured trial victories against behemoths such as Apple, General Electric, Clear Channel, Sony, and Canon.

Eric Magnuson served as Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court from 2008-2010. Both before and after his service on the court, his practice has focused almost exclusively on appeals in state and federal courts. Over 40 years, he has handled hundreds of appeals involving a wide range of issues including the constitutionality of the public school finance system, employment law, trust and probate matters, trade secrets, business contracts, corporate fraud, insurance law, and professional liability.

Michael Collyard serves as chair of the firm’s Banking and Financial Fraud Litigation Group. He is a highly skilled trial lawyer who has successfully served as lead counsel on multi-billion-dollar cases on both sides of the “v.” In November 2022, he served as lead trial counsel for Douglas A. Kelley in Kelley v. BMO Harris Bank, N.A., in which he secured a $564 million jury verdict – which surpassed $1 billion with interest – in one of the largest Ponzi scheme cases in U.S. history. This is the largest jury verdict in Minnesota history.