Lawyer ST. THOMAS
FALL 2017
UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS SCHOOL OF LAW
BEYOND BLACK AND WHITE
EDUCATING COMPLIANCE LEADERS WHO FLOURISH IN THE GRAY
Lawyer ST. THOMAS
FALL 2017 – VOLUME 11, ISSUE 1 UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS SCHOOL OF LAW
Published by the University of St. Thomas School of Law 1000 LaSalle Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55403 (651) 962-4892 lawschool@stthomas.edu stthomas.edu/law
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Publisher Helen Clarke Ebert Editor Patricia Petersen
Dean’s Message
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Art Directors and Designers Peter Borden Sara Klomp
News 4
Photographers Mark Brown Mike Ekern
Helping Law Students Succeed: Jerry Organ 18
Contributors Lisa Montpetit Brabbit Molly Butler ’18 J.D. Nicole Fredricks Jackson Kate Jirik ’15 J.D. Mark Osler Jill Sauber ‘13 J.D Robert Vischer Front cover Justin Windschitl ’05 J.D. and Jessica Tjornehoj ’15 J.D./M.B.A. know that issues regarding compliance and ethics are not always black and white. Photos by Mike Ekern ’02 Back cover Professor Julie Oseid converses with Senior Distinguished Fellow Benjamin Carpenter during orientation. Photo by Mike Ekern ’02
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Beyond Black and White
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Protecting the Elderly
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Building Relationships Through Real-World Experience
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Taking Care of Business: Joe Johnson ’07
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Class Notes
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Published Opinion: Does Our Mission Matter?
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28 The University of St. Thomas is an equal opportunity educator and employer. St. Thomas does not unlawfully discriminate, in any of its programs or activities, on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, family status, disability, age, marital status, status with regard to public assistance, membership or activity in a local commission, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. stthomas.edu/eostatement
WE TRAIN MORALLY RESPONSIBLE LEADERS Our university’s mission of educating “morally responsible leaders” commits our law school to identify emerging challenges in our world and equip our students to rise to meet them with insight, influence and integrity. Effective leadership education does not occur in the abstract, as though memorizing a set of general principles can prepare a person to influence others toward the realization of a common purpose. Leadership is cultivated relationally, through mentoring and modeling. Perhaps that is why St. Thomas Law is emerging as a law school for leaders. Like everything else we do, it begins with community.
by traditional university offerings, we launched one of the nation’s first graduate programs in Organi zational Ethics and Compliance. Our cover story reports on our progress in this area.
This issue of St. Thomas Lawyer highlights several areas in which our leadership mission has created cutting-edge professional opportunities for our students.
St. Thomas Law has been ranked No. 1 in the nation for externships for many years, and we are committed to providing every student with multiple opportunities to gain hands-on professional experience during their time here. In recent years, we have significantly expanded our partnerships in the business community. Through in-class opportunities to reflect on, and learn from, substantial workplace experiences, our externships give students a head start leveraging the skill set imparted by law school into real-world leadership. A feature article in this issue helps explain why externships are so important to our success.
If today’s students aspire to impact the world, more often than not they will need to develop the capacity to impact the culture and operation of large, complicated organizations. No field is better positioned to do this than compliance and ethics, which requires work that is technically sound, inescapably relational and futureoriented. Four years ago, after learning that society’s need for rigorously trained compliance professionals was not being met
Elder law is a fast-growing practice area given demographic shifts, and, thanks to a longstanding commitment to clinical education in this field, our law school already has produced some of the leading elder law practitioners in Minnesota. As our alumni network grows in size, influence and expertise, our school is wellpositioned to maintain a preeminent role training the lawyers who will lead efforts to better serve vulnerable populations.
The fruits of our leadership commitment are not hard to find, and we highlight a few here. Our alumni serve in leadership positions in business, private practice, public-interest and government agencies. In this issue, we profile Joe Johnson ’07, who utilized the J.D./M.B.A. education he received at St. Thomas on a fast track to leading large companies. Professor Jerry Organ, perennially ranked as one of the 25 most influential people in legal education by National Jurist, has led a growing movement to understand and improve law schools through rigorous empirical research. Professor Mark Osler, a leader in efforts to reform our criminal justice system, reminds us of why – and how – the mission matters. We are working hard to build a world-class, mission-centered law school that will be forming tomorrow’s leaders for generations to come. If you have feedback on our efforts thus far or suggestions for our future, please do not hesitate to let me know. You can reach me at rkvischer@stthomas.edu or (651) 962-4838.
Robert K. Vischer Dean and Mengler Chair in Law University of St. Thomas School of Law
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SCHOOL OF LAW NEWS Ciresi and Conlin Honored with Iustitia et Lex Awards Mike Ciresi ’68 B.S. and Jan Conlin ’85 B.A., founding partners of Ciresi Conlin LLP, are the newest recipients of the University of St. Thomas School of Law Iustitia et Lex Award. The award is presented to members of the Twin Cities legal community whose life and work demonstrate a passion for justice and law. After working for nearly three decades together building Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi into a national litigation powerhouse, Ciresi and Conlin founded their firm in 2015 as a small, flexible and innovative boutique litigation firm that carves out ample time to pursue pro bono cases that advance the common good. “Jan and Mike have never seen a commitment to social justice and a commitment to excellence being mutually exclusive, and the new firm is guided by, in their words, ‘two pillars: do high-level work at a high level of excellence, and spend a lot of time in pro bono or philanthropic work,’” Dean Robert Vischer said at the awards ceremony. “Their commitment to the common good is not limited to pro bono work, as though they would practice the values they learned at St. Thomas for their pro bono clients and forget them when it’s a paying client. They always see the human relationships at the center of legal work. Even their corporate business cases keep core St. Thomas values front and center.”
Left to right: Dean Robert Vischer, Jan Conlin, Mike Ciresi and President Julie Sullivan Page 4 St. Thomas Lawyer
Robak Joins St. Thomas as Law Library Director Michael Robak joined St. Thomas Law this fall as director of the Schoenecker Law Library, associate dean and clinical professor of law. He came to St. Thomas from the University of Missouri – Kansas City Law School, where he served as associate director of the library and director of information technology. Robak is a well-regarded leader in law school technology. At UMKC, he helped lead a more progressive approach to legal technology education, helping equip law students with technology knowledge as a distinct competitive advantage in the job market. He holds a J.D. from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law and a master’s in Library Information Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
New Database on Law School Learning Outcomes Launched The university’s Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions has launched a new, searchable, web-based clearinghouse of information regarding law school learning outcomes. The Learning Outcomes Database includes all learning outcomes that have been published and posted on law school websites throughout the United States and houses them in a single, user-friendly online location. The database is organized in three categories structured around the language of ABA Standard 302. The database of learning outcomes also is searchable by law school.
“ The Learning Outcomes Database is designed to be a resource that helps all law schools that are in the process of developing learning outcomes by giving them ready access to examples for an array of competencies.” – Professor Jerry Organ
“The Learning Outcomes Database is designed to be a resource that helps all law schools that are in the process of developing learning outcomes by giving them ready access to examples for an array of competencies,” St. Thomas Law Professor Jerry Organ, co-director of the Holloran Center, said. “The resource also makes it easier for law schools with similar learning outcomes to identify each other, which may facilitate more collaboration in development of curricular innovations and assessment tools for some of the less traditional learning outcomes.”
New Fellow Focuses on Immigration Rebecca Scholtz, staff attorney for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network’s new Defending Vulnerable Populations Project, has joined the University of St. Thomas Legal Services Clinic as a faculty fellow focusing on immigration. Scholtz integrates law students into her work with the Defending Vulnerable Populations project, where her responsibilities include developing and conducting training curricula, analyzing legal issues, providing technical assistance and establishing resources as part of an effort to increase the number of nonprofit agency staff capable of and equipped to represent immigrants in removal proceedings. She also assists the St. Thomas immigration clinics. The Washington, D.C.-based Catholic Legal Immigration Network advocates for transparent, fair and generous immigration policies, and the goal of its Defending Vulnerable Populations Project is to respond to urgent circumstances and prepare for additional policy measures hurting immigrant families. Fall 2017 Page 5
Appellate Clinic is Victorious in Ninth Circuit for Fourth Year
Left to right: Professor Elizabeth Schiltz, Dean Robert Vischer, Brian Wenger, Father Daniel Griffith and Kate Wenger
Father Griffith Named First Wenger Family Faculty Fellow Father Daniel Griffith is the first Wenger Family Faculty Fellow, made possible by a gift from St. Thomas Law Board of Governors member Brian Wenger. The fellowship is an endowed fund that will ensure into perpetuity a faculty fellow dedicated to the integration of faith and reason in his or her teaching and contributions to the law school. Griffith has been on the law school’s faculty since 2011 and has taught Catholic Thought, Law and Policy; Law and Theology; Justice; and Law and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. He also is chaplain of the University of St. Thomas Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law, and Public Policy, and pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Minneapolis. Wenger is executive vice president and chief legal officer of Optum, a division of UnitedHealth Group. Earlier in his career, he represented the Pohlad family and Pepsi-Americas for Briggs and Morgan, and was involved with the sale of the Minnesota Wild, and the construction of Target Field and U.S. Bank Stadium.
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For the fourth year in a row, the Appellate Clinic at the University of St. Thomas has won a civil rights appeal on behalf of a prisoner in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In May, the Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of an Arizona death-row inmate’s claim that prison officials may not read or skim legal mail between prisoners and their counsel. The appeal was briefed by Bridget Duffus and Katherine Koehler, both 2017 graduates, under the supervision of Professor Gregory Sisk, who argued the appeal in San Francisco in January. This was the second successful appeal in the same case. In 2014, the Ninth Circuit reversed the initial dismissal of the prisoner’s lawsuit after briefing and argument by then-St. Thomas law students Joy Nissen Beitzel ’14 and Michelle King ’14. The clinical team began working on the current case last summer, writing briefs and successfully convincing three public interest organizations to file amicus briefs on their behalf – including the Yale Law School Ethics Bureau, the Equal Justice Initiative and the New York County Lawyers Association together with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Espey-Sundt Selected for Fulbright to Study Migration and Refugee Law Alumna Christina Espey-Sundt ’17 has been selected for a prestigious Fulbright award to the Netherlands to study international migration and refugee law at Vrije University in Amsterdam. She was selected for the award by the presidentially appointed, 12-member J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. The Fulbright program aims to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. “Our nation needs Christina Espey-Sundt,” Professor Virgil Wiebe said. “We need compassionate, smart people who have direct experience with the lives of individual refugees and their families, who have a depth and breadth of academic and legal experience, and who have the ability to examine and compare the complex situations that create refugee flows and the legal and social responses of recipient countries and regions. Christina will play a role in refugee policy for decades.” As a law student, Espey-Sundt worked in St. Thomas Law’s immigration and elder law clinics, clerked for both The Advocates for Human Rights and Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, and served as a legal intern for the United Nations Refugee Agency U.S. Protection Unit and the U.S. Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review. Prior to law school, she interned for Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota in Refugee Services and worked as a program assistant in The Advocates for Human Rights Refugee and Immigrant Program.
“Our nation needs Christina Espey-Sundt. We need compassionate, smart people who have direct experience with the lives of individual refugees and their families ... .” – Professor Virgil Wiebe
First Class of Online LL.M. Students to Start in January The University of St. Thomas School of Law is taking its groundbreaking organizational ethics and compliance LL.M. degree program online. The law school’s first cohort of online LL.M. students will begin classes in January 2018 and complete their degrees 17 months later, in May 2019. The online LL.M. program’s cohort model was driven by the law school’s commitment to creating a sense of community among its students. Each 25-person cohort will take all classes together, forming friendships and developing a professional network in the process. St. Thomas became one of the first universities in the nation to offer graduate degree programs in the study of compliance when the law school launched master’s and LL.M. degree programs in fall 2014. Tapping a network of respected business leaders to help shape the programs, they have been regarded as industry-relevant and tailored to the individual needs of each student. Ethics and compliance students at St. Thomas learn from faculty from the university’s ABA-accredited law school and its AACSB-accredited Opus College of Business. Both schools are known nationwide for their research and programming on ethics and professionalism. Fall 2017 Page 7
Women in Compliance Rosen Named to International Chamber of Commerce Mary Rosen ’06, senior counsel with Wells Fargo, was selected to join the International Chamber of Commerce Banking Commission Legal Committee. The appointment recognizes Rosen’s standing as one of the foremost practitioners in trade finance law worldwide. The ICC publishes the rules for Letters of Credit that are followed globally, including the UCP600, the ISP98 and the International Standard Banking Practices. The organization also is involved in dispute resolution. The Banking Commission Legal Committee is charged with identifying and addressing legal issues in connection with the Banking Commission’s scope of activities, as well as addressing legal issues arising in the course of activity of the commission, its task forces or working groups.
The inaugural Women in Compliance and Ethics event, held in April, featured panelists Hui Chen of the U.S. Department of Justice and Carolyn Brue of Cargill, above; Beth Forsythe ’06 of Dorsey & Whitney, Pam Ziemann of Dougherty Financial Group and Deb Berns of United Health Group, bottom left; and Jackie Rice of Target Corp. (not pictured). They discussed necessary skills and shared tips to empower women in the compliance profession.
Night of Distinction
Judge Pamela Alexander, above, was a panelist at the Black Law Students Association’s annual Night of Distinction on April 5, which addressed “Breaking the School-to-Prison Pipeline: A Conversation about Juvenile Justice.” Panelists were scholars and experts from the judicial system, K-12 and higher education, including keynote speaker Tony Simmons, above. Page 8 St. Thomas Lawyer
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ADMISSIBLE HEARSAY
America in the year 2017 is decadent … flawed, fragmented, split apart in all kinds of ways, corrupt in all kinds of ways. But most periods in human history have featured evils and corruption greater even than the ones that we confront now. And people in those contexts have found ways to live their lives heroically and bravely and courageously without falling into a palsy of anxiety and victimization when bravery and heroism are what’s actually called for.
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– New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, speaking at a discussion on “Christianity and Politics in the U.S. Today” sponsored by the University of St. Thomas Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law, and Public Policy
help those who can pay “ Serve so youand can serve and help those who cannot pay. ”
Overheard in and around the University of St. Thomas School of Law
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[The St. Thomas Law faculty] challenged us to think critically, to imagine a more perfect system of justice and to advocate for that system. We shared meals in their homes, and spent time having lunch or drinks with them as they sought to know who we were as individuals and became personally invested in our lives.
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– Maria Pitner ’17 J.D., in her commencement address to the 2017 graduating class
– Mike Ciresi, founding partner at Ciresi Conlin LLP, receiving the school’s Iustitia et Lex Award alongside business partner Jan Conlin
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A president who wants to honestly consider criminal justice reform, lessen the severity of sentences and tackle over-criminalization needs to create something new: an adviser or commission that will listen to input from the DOJ but not be beholden to it.
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– Professor Mark Osler, in the commentary, “The Problem with the Justice Department,” for The Marshall Project
We face immense challenges as a country and as a society. We need our best minds to help solve our most difficult and complex problems. We need those leaders not in the next decade, not in the next year, not in the next month – we need them now. What can you do to be not just one of those leaders who survives, but thrives?
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– Ivan Fong, senior vice president, legal affairs and general counsel at 3M, in his commencement address to the 2017 graduating class
it’s summer and “ When you hang out with your @ustlawmn mentor anyway because it was such a good relationship over the school year.
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– @NoraHuxtable via Twitter
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BEYOND BLACK AND WHITE Educating Compliance Leaders Who Flourish in the Gray
By Helen Clarke Ebert Photos by Mike Ekern ’02
Left, Justin Windschitl, and right, Jessica Tjornehoj
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When key decision-makers at St. Thomas chose to forge ahead in unfamiliar territory for graduate education with the compliance programs, they knew the key to success would be focusing on both the technical and relational skills that the profession demanded. Developed in partnership with an advisory board comprised of leading compliance and ethics experts from a variety of disciplines – including financial services, health care, agribusiness, energy, technology and consumer goods, to name a few – the program has earned the attention of the compliance and ethics community. “In partnership with the university’s Opus College of Business – which boasts one of the largest business ethics faculties in the world – we are uniquely situated to help our students succeed in this field,” said Robert Vischer, dean of the School of Law. “Professional excellence in this area requires more than information or technical skills – it requires the ability to handle ambiguity; the most challenging issues facing compliance professionals today are not black and white, but shades of gray.”
A rising tide lifts all boats.
A rising tide? Tell that to Enron.
That’s the aphorism Jessica Tjornehoj ’15 J.D./M.B.A. uses to describe the culture of the compliance and ethics community in the Twin Cities. An exciting hub of Fortune 500 companies coupled with the presence of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics have given professionals the freedom to dream up best practices in what feels like an entirely new field.
It was Enron’s 2001 accounting scandal that ran the company aground, shifting both public awareness and public opinion of corporate greed. The many disgraceful headlines in the years since underscore how disruptive ethical failures by organizations can be – from Enron to Lehman Brothers to Volkswagen – and how essential compliance and ethics functions should be.
“There’s so much open space for coming up with new ideas,” Tjornehoj, a full-time ethics employee at Medtronic, said of her chosen profession. “We all want to improve our programs, and there’s no harm in sharing best practices in our companies. As we all improve our programs, all of our companies are better off.”
“It’s not just about a few bad apples setting out to misbehave, but about cultures that become warped over time,” dean Vischer said. “Companies need leaders who can set the tone, build the proper infrastructure and make sure that lofty promises are matched with day-to-day execution. Managing compliance regimes requires a significant commitment of resources, including trained professionals.”
In 2014, St. Thomas set out to change the course and impact corporate culture at its core. The university launched its master’s and LL.M. programs in Organizational Ethics and Compliance and will grow in January 2018 to offer the LL.M. program online. Both the online and on-campus LL.M. programs are accredited by AACSB International – the only accredited programs of their kind in the United States. “The complexity of the marketplace within which these businesses operate today requires leaders who have been taught and educated on how to deal with these sophisticated and nuanced scenarios,” said Colleen Dorsey, director of St. Thomas’ Organizational Ethics and Compliance programs. “Can they get it on the job? They can. But they’ll be way better equipped coming out of a graduate-level program so that they’re prepared.” “Anyone in this profession knows that learning on the job can be daunting and stressful,” added E. Alan Arnold, vice president, deputy general counsel and chief compliance officer for Delta Air Lines and member of St. Thomas Law’s Compliance Advisory Board. “St. Thomas can position grads to step into this profession as a profession, not just another subject matter area, with a much deeper understanding of where compliance comes from, what works, what might work and, most importantly, why.”
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It’s the savvy business leaders who are beginning to understand the why, Dorsey said. They know the risk – that “once the public perceives a corporation as greedy or prone to corruption, that’s a hard thing to dial back.”
always been in the fabric of the company, but having a full-time employee behind it, we can be really explicit about the expectations and making the concept of weaving ethics into your everyday behavior real for employees.”
I’m working with now, I started building a training program for a select group of associates, then for the department, then for the whole group. The experience I had at Medtronic helped pave that way.”
Putting Ethics Front and Center
She sees her role as proactive rather than reactive, and is intentional about promoting the right behavior among the company’s nearly 100,000 employees.
Marrinan has spent the bulk of his first year out of law school building and implementing a Bank Secrecy Act anti-moneylaundering function for an East Coast bank and reviewing account holders’ transactions to ensure nothing suspicious is going on – such as tax evasion, terrorist financing or money laundering.
While Tjornehoj was taking classes in the M.B.A. program, she was encouraged to find an externship, but none of the openings felt like the right fit. Inspired by Professor Tom Holloran’s teachings in an Ethical Leadership course she took at the law school, she instead chose to identify a company for which she aspired to work – Medtronic, where Holloran had served as president. She connected with a vice president in ethics and compliance who created an externship for her. “It was one of those instances of fate. I flew right into something that was the perfect fusion between legal and business work,” Tjornehoj said. “My externship helped give me the practical experience of what a compliance role is. Students can be confused in law school about where to go in their career – a few months in the field can do a lot.” Immediately after graduating from law school with a concentration in organizational ethics and compliance, she joined the Medtronic Office of Ethics & Compliance. “Medtronic is a very missiondriven company, and acting with integrity is a strong part of the mission,” she said. “It’s Page 14 St. Thomas Lawyer
“Lawyers have a good way of envisioning what could go wrong. The opportunity is to turn that viewpoint of what could go wrong into preventative action,” she said. She spends roughly half her working hours digging into data – going through ethics surveys, hotline call reports and other resources to slice and dice the data to get a clear picture of company culture. Conor Marrinan ’16 J.D./LL.M. got an early taste of compliance alongside Tjornehoj at Medtronic. Working as an extern there, Marrinan presented to an international audience on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and how the company could safeguard itself from violations, and worked with Tjornehoj to build Medtronic’s compliance training platform. He completed his externship doing hands-on FCPA reporting and applied that experience directly to his current job with Ernst & Young, where he works as a financial consultant based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. “My externship has been extremely beneficial to my career, Marrinan said. “At the bank
“I went to law school knowing I didn’t want to practice in the traditional sense,” he said. “I wanted to get into an institution and implement a change from within. We’ve all seen the impact of what the Bernie Madoffs and Tom Petters have done. Not only is regulation within the financial crimes realm strong and continuing to become stronger, it makes for a very interesting career path.” The Lawyer as Compliance Officer With compliance and ethics essentially absent as a discipline from higher education until the past decade, many companies found lawyers were a natural fit for these roles. “Lawyers are trained to think a certain way: to think about laws and regulations as a system of rules that can be followed, or not; that can be supported by specific values and actions, or
not;” Arnold, of Delta, said. “In this way, lawyers come fairly intuitively to the notion that codes of ethics, training, monitoring, constant risk assessment and program evolution – actually all of the suggestions in the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and other resources – just make good sense if what you’re trying to do is create, care for and feed a program that describes your company’s commitment to ethics and compliance,” He continued, “[And] lawyers communicate – a lot. It is the backbone of what we are trained to do. We listen and read for comprehension, are discerning about contradictory points of view, and then communicate persuasively. Of course, you don’t have to be a lawyer to have any of these disciplines, but the legal and compliance professions can often be a good fit.” Justin Windschitl ’05 J.D. is a prime example. He graduated from St. Thomas Law before degree programs in compliance and ethics existed, but has found himself in a career that rests squarely on the needs that Arnold articulated. Now senior vice president, total compensation director and chief risk officer for human resources at U.S. Bank, he said: “When I step back and think about what I do on a day-to-day basis, my goal is to help make sure we do the right thing. We do the right thing for our employees, for our customers, for our community.” The bank actively seeks to comply with over 120 laws and
Third-year student Wally Hwang, second from right, spent the summer working as a legal corporate compliance intern for Delta in Atlanta. She is pictured with legal interns, from left, Terrika Crutchfield of Mercer University School of Law, Trey Flynn of the University of Georgia School of Law and Tammy Le of UGA Law.
regulations, Windschitl said, but that doesn’t get to the core need for dedicated compliance and ethics professionals. “Historically, compliance staff were viewed as barriers to innovation or obstacles to success or freedom, but what I’ve seen more recently is a willingness to bring that staff into discussions early on as thought-partners who are necessary to the conversation to make sure we’re able to do things the right way,” he said. “My position puts me in a place to exercise influence, as compliance professionals are the heart of the company. Working in such a role has such a critical impact on our organization.” In what is still a relatively new field, St. Thomas seeks to help shape the profession by ensuring that leading professionals are trained in an interdisciplinary university setting that takes ethics as seriously as compliance.
“Excellence in compliance must always be more than checking the box,” Vischer said. “It’s a broader approach to organizational health and culture. Industry-specific knowledge is important, but so are relationship skills, a service mindset, effective communication, critical thinking and leadership.” Windschitl has hired several St. Thomas graduates over the course of his career with U.S. Bank – the bank is among the top employers of St. Thomas Law alumni – and it’s the “why” that he said he often seeks out on a resume. “Some people think in order to make a difference with a law degree, you must work in a nonprofit or in public service. Increasingly, I think people are recognizing there’s a real need for people with that core mission in all sectors of our workforce. There is tremendous opportunity for us to bring those values and Fall 2017 Page 15
influence the types of decisions that are made,” he said. “One of the things I love about U.S. Bank is that I don’t have to leave my values or my ethics at the doorstep; I bring them into the work that I do.” Choosing Compliance as a Profession The St. Thomas programs offer students a chance to be intentional about their career plans in this lesser-known field. A decade ago, they may have landed in a compliance role by chance several years into their career, but today they can get first-hand experience during law school. The popular compliance externship was built into the curriculum to give students a chance to work under the supervision of a lawyer in the field at one of more than 30 participating businesses. Third-year student Wally Hwang spent six weeks last summer in Atlanta working as a legal corporate compliance extern for Delta Air Lines. Her work with Delta included policy drafting and review, researching and summarizing salient points for training and presentations, and helping to execute a formal ethics and compliance communication plan. “At the same time, I was also learning what it’s like to wear the in-house counsel hat and the compliance officer hat,” she said. “Compliance is different for every industry, and the variety of work I did goes to show how it is an all-encompassing area. I’m most proud of drafting Delta’s
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Anti-Human Trafficking statement and stand-alone Conflicts of Interest policy. It will be exciting to see those documents come to life from what I benchmarked.” As an extern, Hwang was given a wide range of learning materials – from how corporate audits are done to the process for thirdparty due diligence, all of which reflect back on how Delta’s ethics and corporate culture is shaped. The experience served as validation for the decision she made two years ago to leave her home state of California to enroll in law school at St. Thomas. “I knew I wanted to go to law school with the ultimate goal of becoming a chief compliance officer. After doing my research and speaking with professionals before committing to law school, I knew that the versatility of a J.D. coupled with my compliance emphasis would serve as an advantage post-graduation and for my own educational and professional growth,” Hwang said. “Prior to recent years, most compliance professionals were groomed-in to the role, with no legal background. The trend we’re seeing now is that most jobs are J.D.-preferred because they work very closely with the legal department.” Hwang’s long-term career goal is to become a global chief compliance officer for an airline or hotel brand. Her externship at Delta felt like a taste of her dream job – one that seemed possible only because she chose a law school that values hands-on experience at its core.
“I did my internship in conjunction with the compliance externship course by Skyping into class every week. So, not only did I benefit from the practical training side of working like a fulltime employee at Delta, but I also gained the in-classroom tools and knowledge to apply and share it in the office,” she said. “There has not been a single person who I’ve spoken to in the Legal Department who didn’t wish they had this kind of an experience during law school – including the three other legal interns.” Hwang’s experience is a testament to what St. Thomas sought to accomplish with the organizational ethics and compliance programs in the first place. “At the end of the day, it’s about culture and leadership, and what we’re trying to do here is create leaders who are well-versed in how to deal with compliance and ethics issues,” Dorsey said. “Leadership doesn’t create culture, but it can diminish and destroy it. That’s what this school is all about – creating leaders who are all about the common good.” Just as we were going to press, Jessica Tjornehoj announced she would be moving from Medtronic to join U.S. Bank, where she will serve as program manager for ethics framework and strategy in the office headed by the bank’s chief ethics officer. She told us that her interest in continuing to work for a mission-driven organization will make U.S. Bank a great fit. n
WHAT THE PROS SAY ABOUT ETHICS AND COMPLIANCE
“At Land O’Lakes, integrity is integral to everything we do – essentially part of our DNA. Having a resource focused solely on compliance and ethics helps us reinforce that message at every point in the employment lifecycle: from teaching new hires about the importance of ethical conduct in our culture to helping employees live our Code of Conduct and inviting departing employees to tell us about their experience working here. That dedicated resource also helps us bring a continuous improvement mindset to our program that is evident everywhere, every day.” – SHEILAH STEWART, VICE PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL, LAND O’LAKES
“Change is the only constant in today’s global marketplace. To continue to drive sustainable growth across our diversified businesses, we understand the value of having a dedicated Compliance and Business Conduct team around the world to support our 90,000 employees to live the 3M Code of Conduct. We strive to delight our customers and help them be more competitive by doing business the right way, every day, everywhere.” – VEENA LAKKUNDI, VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF COMPLIANCE OFFICER, 3M
“Ethics is values-based – is it right? Compliance is rules-based – is it legal? They’re really two sides of the same coin. A business can cut corners and survive in the short run, but building a sustainable, long-term enterprise requires ‘the power of and’ – a dedicated focus on ethics and compliance.” – TIMOTHY DORDELL, VICE PRESIDENT, SECRETARY AND GENERAL COUNSEL, THE TORO COMPANY
“At Target, managing today’s evolving risks is a shared responsibility across all team members. We have a dedicated compliance and ethics team that helps develop the policies, procedures, training and monitoring to enable the business to focus on delivering the best experience for our guests. The team is trained to navigate tough issues, while also demonstrating a deep understanding of the business. In addition, we equip our team members to watch for and manage risks as they occur within the day-to-day work. It’s a true partnership between our team and the business, which allows us to effectively mitigate risk while clearing roadblocks so the company can thrive and grow. Managing risk is all-in: a dedicated team and vigilant team members, working together every day, to do what’s right for Target.” – JACKIE RICE, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF RISK AND COMPLIANCE OFFICER, TARGET
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HELPING LAW STUDENTS SUCCEED By Kate Jirik ’15 J.D. Photo by Mark Brown “I guess, I am just a curious guy who wants to help people.” This statement by Professor Jerry Organ is an apt description of himself. His curiosity has led him into different areas of research, involving both traditional scholarly writing and databased projects. Throughout all this has been his desire to help others, particularly law students, determine their best paths. Exploring Data Related to Legal Education Beginning in 2009, Organ became interested in two aspects of a law school’s “investment” decisions – scholarship programs, and employment and salary statistics. “I was curious how many law schools are like ours – giving scholarships that automatically renew each year,” Organ said. So, he decided to research conditional scholarship programs and found that schools were not required to record that data. He wrote an article exposing the lack of transparency among law schools in 2011 and, subsequently, The New York Times tapped him to contribute to an article. That research culminated in an Page 18 St. Thomas Lawyer
appointment to an American Bar Association committee. “Partly because of what I wrote mandating disclosure, the ABA required more consistent reporting with respect to conditional scholarship.” Organ said. “There are now 40 fewer law schools with conditional scholarship programs.” At the same time, the ABA also began requiring law schools to report employment outcomes in a more detailed manner. As a result, law schools also are more focused on helping their students pass the bar and find meaningful employment. Organ’s most recent pondering concerned whether law school was equally expensive for all law students. He analyzed trends in average “net tuition” across LSAT categories to identify the extent to which law students in different LSAT categories experience different average “net tuition.” His research, supported by a grant from Access Group (now AccessLex Institute), looks at average “net tuition” – tuition after scholarships – for first-year students from 2010-2014, and shows that for many students in the middle of the LSAT distribution, law school actually has become less expensive during that period. The goal is to better understand how the decreasing numbers and changing demographics
of law students are impacting law schools and law students in relation to how scholarships are awarded. This analysis also compares short-term return on investment by looking at how bar passage outcomes and employment outcomes differ for graduates of law schools based on median LSAT of the law schools. The Journal of Legal Education will publish the results this fall. Fostering Professional Identity Formation As part of Organ’s focus on helping law students succeed at St. Thomas, he has been teaching Foundations of Justice for several years along with teaching in the Mentor Externship Program. He has teamed up with St. Thomas Law Professor Neil Hamilton to host summer workshops for teams of faculty and staff from law schools around the world to help them strengthen their students’ professional identity formation. As co-directors of the Holloran Center for Ethical Leadership in the Professions, the two have led workshops and organized symposia relating to professional identity formation. Through these sessions, Organ and Hamilton are helping educators learn how to help law students be successful. Ultimately, “when you look at
Professor Jerry Organ
what sets students apart, the learning outcomes need to focus on self-understanding and self-directedness coupled with professional communication,” Organ said. Over five summers, the workshops have attracted nearly 200 participants from more than 35 law schools, including institutions in India, Mexico and Brazil. Last May, the Holloran Center held a gathering of Law Schools with First-Year Courses/Programs Focused on Professional Identity Formation and welcomed representatives from 19 schools along with representative teams from 20 other law schools interested in developing such a program. The idea of encouraging students to pursue meaningful employment is impacting all law schools, including law schools such as Columbia University and the University of Chicago, both of
which were represented at the May gathering.
students, which was published in the Journal of Legal Education.
“Those schools have plenty of jobs, but they want to help their graduates find meaningful employment,” Organ said. This is a shift in law school education; the focus is uniquely tied to how the law student specifically defines his or her own success.
Organ said he feels blessed to be working at St. Thomas Law: “I have great colleagues who are committed to a shared mission and vision of a holistic approach to legal education, and I get to work with wonderful students who are exploring who they want to be as lawyers.”
Organ mentioned that “the job may not be what will sustain your spirit.” Law school educators, through attending workshops, are taking note and working to help law students pursue meaningful vocations. Organ also has written several pieces about professional formation. He was one of the principal investigators on the Survey of Law Student Well Being, the first multi-school study focused on mental health, and alcohol and drug use among law
His curiosity pushes him to continue his research, and his desire to help others motivates him in the classroom and in his efforts to publish articles, coordinate symposia and teach workshops. It is the perfect mix for a self-proclaimed “curious guy who wants to help people.” Jerry Organ was named No. 19 in a list of Most Influential People in Legal Education 2016 by The National Jurist. n
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PROTECTING THE ELDERLY By Jill Sauber ‘13 J.D. Page 20 St. Thomas Lawyer
Death and taxes – two sure things in life. Elder law covers both. And a growing need for experienced elder law attorneys to serve an aging population has compelled St. Thomas Law students to specialize in this area. As a licensed mortician, I realized there was a need for end-of-life and death planning. My knowledge of government benefits only scratched the surface, so applying to the University of St. Thomas School of Law, with its dedication to both social justice and elder law, made sense.
I was an advanced student in the Elder Law Practice Group (ELPG) clinic for two years at the St. Thomas Interprofessional Center for Counseling and Legal Services and served as a summer law clerk paid through a Public Interest Law Fellowship grant. My clinic experience was critical in paving the way to my thriving elder law practice, including my involvement on the Governing Council of the MSBA Elder Law Section. I absolutely love what I do. Many other practicing elder law attorneys credit the ELPG for providing the training and experience needed to thrive in this practice area, such as Laura Orr ‘10 J.D., who was an advanced ELPG clinic student for two years. She said her experience taught her valuable interviewing
and counseling skills and opened doors for meeting members of the elder law community. Many began their law school search unware of elder law, including Orr. Only after exposure to the elder clinic did she become intrigued by the practice. The clinic’s pedagogical approach exposes students to the basics of elder law to provide thorough and confident representation. After graduation, Orr supervised students as the elder clinic law fellow for three years. Now, she is the chair of the Governing Council of the MSBA Elder Law Section, and she has a highvolume elder law practice as an attorney at Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services.
Five years with ELPG instilled in Orr that “Courage is a necessary component of being an effective advocate. Recognizing the need for courage to march forward with a particular action – whether it was my first time or the first time for anyone – was a formative experience,” she said.
An aging population will create sweeping changes to consumer marketing, federal health spending and law practices.
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Elder Law is Expanding “We should determine what aging looks like,” said Jennifer Wright, newly retired clinical director of the elder clinic and professor. She is a champion in the field of elder law and has received accolades such as the 2016 Mary Alice Gooderl Award winner and 2017 St. Thomas School of Law Dean’s Award. The demographics of legal clientele have shifted because Baby Boomers are aging. In reports issued by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of Americans aged 65 and older is projected to be 83.7 million in 2050, almost double its estimated population of 43.1 million in 2012. That makes elder law a thriving practice area.
“Courage is a necessary component of being an effective advocate. Recognizing the need for courage to march forward with a particular action – whether it was my first time or the first time for anyone – was a formative experience.” LAURA ORR ’10
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An aging population will create sweeping changes to consumer marketing, federal health spending and law practices. Consequently, all attorneys, even those who are not elder law practitioners, must learn the nuances of advising an older population. Elder law is the legal practice of long-term care planning for persons over the age of 18 who are mentally or physically infirm. What separates elder law attorneys from estate planning or probate attorneys is the merging of these areas with government benefits. An elder law attorney may assist a client with real estate transfers, gift tax issues, benefits, or litigation arising from family conflict or capacity issues. Medical Assistance (Medicaid) laws are complex and ever-changing, so exposure to the basics is critical before practicing in the area. Apprenticeships and Experiential Learning Law schools have attempted to marry theoretical and practical experiences for students for decades; namely, since the ABA published the MacCrate Report providing recommendations for improving legal education. However, with law school admission numbers declining, and law schools cutting programs, fewer clinic opportunities exist. Law schools should be expanding,
rather than eliminating, clinic opportunities. The supply of elder law attorneys entering practice is decreasing while the need is increasing exponentially. The roots of the American legal profession lie in apprenticeships. During the colonial period, an apprenticeship or clerkship was essential for being admitted to the bar. Some states are reducing the theoretical classroom requirement for bar admission and favoring experiential learning. States such as California, Vermont, Virginia and Washington allow apprenticeship to count toward bar admission; Maine and New York allow a combination of classroom time and apprenticeship; and West Virginia allows students from a non-ABA-accredited law school to take its bar exam by doing three years of apprenticeship. Wright’s commitment to clinical legal education, and her zealous advocacy for vulnerable adults, fostered a passion for elder law in ELPG graduates. She believes St. Thomas graduates are extraordinary elder law practitioners because their ELPG experience included faith and an emphasis on the common good, not just the bottom line. A significant number of active attorneys in the MSBA Elder Law Section are St. Thomas graduates.
Minnesota enacted legislation creating criminal and civil penalties for perpetrators of vulnerable adult abuse, specifically financial exploitation, with help from groups such as the Minnesota Elder Justice Center. Even with the state legislative changes, there is much to be done to educate attorneys.
John Kantke ’07 J.D. is head of the Elder Law and Guardianship Alternatives Clinic at the Univeristy of St. Thomas School of Law. Photo by Mark Brown
The Future of ELPG: Center for Excellence in Supported Decision Making With Wright’s retirement comes a shift in the focus of the elder clinic. John Kantke ’07 J.D. is head of the Elder Law and Guardianship Alternatives clinic, made possible by the Center for Excellence in Supported Decision Making, a partnership of several Minnesota not-for-profit and government agencies. The center received a federal grant from the
Administration for Community Living. Kantke was an elder clinic student for three semesters. He is the former chair of the Governing Council of the MSBA Elder Law Section and is a full-time practicing elder law attorney at Estate and Elder Law Services. He also regularly teaches Ethics and Aging for the master’s program in gerontology at Bethel University.
Many elder abuse victims are left without representation because there are little resources to handle these, which are time consuming, and the victims are typically indigent or receiving government benefits, thus unable to pay attorney fees. The elder law bar is working to provide pro bono opportunities for attorneys, and looking to pair with the civil litigation section of the MSBA, as well as other pro bono groups, to provide these necessary services to vulnerable adults. By dedicating resources to other growing areas within elder law, such as training mediators who specialize in government benefits and are knowledgeable about the unique circumstances vulnerable adults encounter, or by providing assistance to abused elders (financial exploitation), St. Thomas will continue to be a leader in elder law education. n
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BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCE LAW STUDENTS GET ON-THE-JOB EXPERIENCE WITH EXTERNSHIPS By Molly Butler ’18 J.D. Photo by Mike Ekern ’02
In 2017, National Jurist ranked the University of St. Thomas School of Law second among law schools nationwide for practical training. What is practical training, and what role does it play in legal education? As Adam Brown ’06, assistant director of career services and manager of the school’s externship course program, said, “Hands-on experience is pivotal to a law student’s process of discernment. By working alongside legal professionals and participating in meaningful projects outside of the classroom, students gain valuable knowledge about potential practice areas.” In contrast to traditional legal study, it is an opportunity for students to develop transferable skills in a professional setting. One of the ways St. Thomas facilitates practical training is through its much-lauded Mentor Externship Program, in which every student is paired with a professional legal mentor every year of law study. Another opportunity for practical training is provided through a variety of semester-long externship courses that take a deeper dive into a specific field or area of practice. Seven externship options allow for greater substantive understanding, more robust skill- and
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relationship-development, and the opportunity for each student to develop an extended professional narrative consistent with their career goals. Each student spends more than 150 hours completing the externship requirements. Field placements include opportunities at major corporations and fortune 100 companies as well as nonprofit organizations, government agencies and judicial chambers. Students are also placed at start-up companies or in a wide range of business-, technology- and intellectual property-focused organizations.
“One of the goals of the externship courses is to open doors for students, and provide access to places and experiences that might not otherwise be available,” Brown said. “The partnerships we have with these placements are strong, and they are stewarded very carefully by both the law school and our students.” You’re Hired! In addition to the hands-on training that externship courses provide, students benefit from the supervision of an on-site legal professional and gain access to a network of people working in the field. In some cases, participation in an externship leads to full-time employment at the field placement. This was true for Molly Sigler ’17, who earned a position to clerk for Judge Francis Connolly on the Minnesota Court of Appeals following her Judicial Externship, and Charlene Sundermann ’18, who was offered full-time summer employment after a two-semester externship at Ecolab.
Molly Sigler ’17, who earned a position to clerk for Judge Francis Connolly following her Judicial Externship, and Judge Pamela Alexander, who teaches the Judicial Externship course.
For students interested in post-graduation judicial clerkships, an externship with a federal or state court judge is a powerful way to stand out from peers. Judge Pamela Alexander, who teaches the Judicial Externship course, works hard to pair students with judges who have similar interests, both personally and professionally. On multiple occasions, her pairings have resulted in post-externship offers for full-time clerkships. Sigler credits her Judicial Externship for an offer to clerk full time for the Minnesota Court of Appeals after graduation. She applied to the Judicial Externship program interested in a post-graduation clerkship, and
thought the externship would be “a perfect opportunity to ‘test’ if [she] should go that route.” If it was a test, she passed it. After externing for Judge Francis Connolly, he offered her a fulltime position, allowing her to bypass the formal application process. “If it weren’t for the Judicial Externship program, I would have had to go through the application and interview process with the court. I would much rather work with someone for a semester to show him or her that I am a good candidate for a job,” she said. The opportunity to work directly with judges is invaluable for
students who seek the opportunity. “Public offices, government agencies and non-profits typically aren’t in a position to hire students,” Brown said. “So externships are sometimes the only way for students to access them.” Sundermann, a student in the Compliance Externship, recalled meeting with Colleen Dorsey, director of organizational ethics and compliance programs, about a potential placement: “We talked about my experience and scientific background. She also asked me about my skills and interests, and ultimately suggested Ecolab.” Sundermann said it was a great fit, and after completing an externship and advanced externship there, she was offered
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full-time summer employment. She currently is working in global compliance and developing a tracking mechanism to monitor the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. “Compliance is a completely different gig than traditional legal practice,” she said. “The opportunity I received through the externship to work at Ecolab allowed me to gain first-hand experience in a field I didn’t know about prior to law school, but which I could potentially see myself doing long term.” Students with a professional desire to pursue public service have a rich opportunity to do so through the Fredrikson & Byron Public Interest Externship. Placements are statewide and include organizations and agencies such as the Duluth City Attorney’s Office, Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, The Saint Paul and
Ramsey County Domestic Abuse Intervention Project, and the Department of Justice. Ronnie Santana ’18 spent last spring semester as an extern with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. After working for a large law firm the previous summer, he was interested in learning more about the public sector. The ability to earn credit for the unpaid position made it a feasible option for Santana. He said he made the right decision; his experience solidified his desire to pursue a career as a federal prosecutor. “The type of work I was exposed to, the caliber of attorneys I was exposed to … that is absolutely what I want to do and who I want to be,” he said. Santana’s assignments involved work on human trafficking, major drug crimes and child pornography.
Seven Externship Opportunities Each term, approximately 50 students participate in one of the externship courses at St. Thomas Law. In addition to the required Mentor Externship Program, current externship courses include: • Compliance
“It was really heavy stuff, but it put things in perspective,” he said. Each week, he looked forward to debriefing with other students in his Public Interest Externship course. “The classroom component helped broaden my perspective of public law,” he said. “During class, we shared our triumphs and our burdens. This really humanized the work that other people were doing, and made me realize that despite adversarial roles, particularly in the criminal justice system, we are all working toward promoting the common good.” Santana is currently working as a certified student attorney in the Community Prosecution Division at the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. He believes part of the reason he was hired was his experience as an extern. Sometimes, a student may learn through an externship that an area they wanted to pursue simply isn’t a good fit. And it’s better to learn that in law school than with a first employer. “An externship is a well-rounded way look at what [a student] has professed as a vocation,” Judge Alexander said.
• Business • Judicial
Brown also emphasized the discernment process.
• Fredrikson & Byron Public Interest • Misdemeanor Defense • Advanced Externships
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“It is equally meaningful for a student to complete an externship
and realize, ‘this is for me,’ or ‘this isn’t a good fit,’” he said. Each of the externship courses connects students with a substantial field placement similar to the experience of a lawyer or legal professional advising or representing a client, or engaging in other lawyering or compliance roles under direct on-site supervision. A mutual understanding exists between the placement site and the law school that the student’s experience and education are paramount. To this end, the field placement is expected to provide opportunities for performance, feedback and self-evaluation to help students gain practical experiences and develop competencies. Reflection and Dialogue While the field placement serves as the fulcrum for the experience, the classroom component helps reinforce the practical application of skills and allows students to learn from each other. In class, students share what they see and do, and a faculty member helps them reflect and integrate that experience into a growing body of knowledge and understanding. Time and engagement then become professional building blocks. “We have amazing professors in the program. They are all experts in their fields,” Brown said.
Judge Alexander uses class time to facilitate a necessary conversation around professional competencies and real-life issues. Each semester, she invites a panel of lawyers to discuss their personal experiences, specifically addressing how they manage their time and what is expected of them in their roles. She added, “We have a lot of fun.” Dorsey, who teaches the Compliance Externship, asks her students to use the field experience as a backdrop to solve an ethical dilemma. In the past, she has helped students create an entire compliance program from scratch for a fictional company. Drawing on her own experience as a practitioner of compliance and ethics in a corporate setting, Dorsey strives to create a substantive classroom experience that prepares students for the real world. “I just love it,” she said. “The possibilities are endless.” In the Business Externship, the classroom component emphasizes business and entrepreneurial skills through a wide range of guest speakers, and the personal experiences of professors Dennis Monroe and Norm Linnell. Monroe, a nationally recognized business legal adviser, co-founded the law firm Monroe Moxness Berg. Linnell is retired vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of the Donaldson Company and former president of Books for Africa.
“Students are energized and thrilled that they get the opportunity to build on their legal education and put it to work in the real world,” Linnell said. “They get feedback on their work product and professional advice on how to be a successful member of a business and legal team.” Monroe and Linnell challenge students to use the classroom portion of the externship to reinforce the experience at their field placements, and as a vehicle to study, analyze and reflect on the role, responsibilities and competencies of a legal professional – both as a trusted adviser and as a member of an organizational team. Between the field placement and classroom component, externships allow St. Thomas Law students to showcase what they are capable of and expand their professional network. “The letter of recommendation my supervising attorney wrote on my behalf was incredible. It was the best letter I’ve ever seen. I am so proud to have really shown her what I can do,” Santana said, adding that he intends to stay in touch with several of the attorneys. “They are fantastic mentors.” Brown continued, “Externships really help students to cultivate lasting professional relationships. The benefits are long term.” n
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TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS By Patricia Petersen Photo by Mark Brown
Joe Johnson headed to the School of Law knowing he didn’t want to be a lawyer; he wanted to run a company, and the school’s joint J.D./M.B.A. degree was the perfect fit. Soon after graduating with his degree in 2007 and passing the bar exam, he started his business career. He worked on the corporate negotiations team at Target before joining Wireless Zone (one of Verizon’s major national retailers) and becoming president. He led a major overhaul of operations, franchise relations, supply chain and technology, which resulted in restored profitable growth. Johnson said he’s most proud of revitalizing the culture – recruiting and promoting top talent, rewarding innovation and empowering his team. Now he serves as CEO at Luminaria and as executive vice president of strategy and business development at O’Shaughnessy Holding Company, a position he started in March. He said that to be effective – whether running a multimillion-dollar business, leading a charitable foundation or directing a youth sports league – “When all ideas are treated with respect, innovation flourishes and everyone feels invested in the process and the outcome.” We sat down with Joe to learn more about how St. Thomas Law started him on his path. Why did you choose to earn a J.D./M.B.A. degree?
Joe Johnson ’07
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When I realized I wasn’t going to play baseball for the Twins,
I decided I wanted to run a company someday. I was blessed to have great mentors and they suggested I get my law degree and M.B.A. to help differentiate me and prepare me to be a successful executive. [In law school] my plan was to graduate with the joint J.D./ MBA and work for a big firm doing corporate transactional work. So, the law degree decision was following the advice of multiple mentors, realizing that it would train my brain to think differently. Why did you choose St. Thomas Law? As an undergrad at St. Thomas, I was blessed to serve as the student liaison to the Board of Trustees. I had the privilege of hearing about their vision for the law school and immediately was drawn to it. The way they described it was: “You will know a St. Thomas lawyer by their character and how they operate; they will stand out from the rest.” That was appealing to me and I wanted to be part of something that changed the industry and focused on doing what is right. I was so inspired by St. Thomas Law that it was the only law school I considered. I am so grateful for my experience at St. Thomas. It was everything the board had set out to accomplish and more. St. Thomas Law was at the center of my most significant formation, and it is a result of the vision and mission that attracted the faculty, staff and students who brought it to life, carried it forward and
established that wonderful community. Who at St. Thomas Law has inspired you? I would say the community in general. I look back and there were so many individuals who invested their time in making the world a better place. Being surrounded by such great people has inspired me to strive to do more to make a positive difference. Tell us about your business development, consulting and leadership experience. I always wanted to run a company. Coming out of graduate school I had the opportunity to work for Target in the corporate negotiations team. I decided that five years at Target could help me get closer to my career goal than five years at a big firm. I was eventually recruited to join the senior management team of a large ($800M+ revenue) wireless retailer in Connecticut. The board appointed me to president and I was able to set the strategic vision, build the team, and execute our initiatives and goals. We sold the company at the end of 2016 and we took the opportunity to move back home. I am working for a holding company in Eden Prairie and am responsible for strategy and business development. I often describe it as three primary responsibilities: •H elp ensure the existing businesses are great,
• Launch new products and business, and • Be responsible for M&A activities How have you used your degree in your career? My law degree has been handy for numerous reasons. First and foremost, it was a wonderful experience and I am so proud to be associated with the school. It taught me a lot about myself and provided great role models to aspire to. The broader message about the common good and how I embraced the concept to treat everyone in the image and likeness of God have stayed with me. I learned great lifetime skills on time management, communication, analysis, etc. Honing my skills at St. Thomas Law has been a big part of my career in that it has afforded me the opportunity to quickly drive great results, freeing me up to take on additional items for work, family or the community. In the business world, people are impressed by a law degree and it has provided validation and credibility at initial introduction. I think the one thing that really solidified while at St. Thomas was that all of us were made in the image and likeness of God. Treat everyone like your brother and sister and with human dignity. We will have to answer to St. Peter one day, and I am pretty sure he will care more about how we treated God’s children than how much profit we delivered. n
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PUBLISHED OPINION Does Our Mission Matter? By Mark Osler, professor and Robert and Marion Short Distinguished Chair in Law I first visited St. Thomas Law to give a talk to the faculty at lunch. During the visit I saw the mission statement posted on a wall: “The University of St. Thomas School of Law, as a Catholic law school, is dedicated to integrating faith and reason in the search for truth through a focus on morality and social justice.” There, in a few words, were so many challenging imperatives. Faith and reason. Truth. Morality. Social Justice. Each different, each complicated, and each one of them was a part of what I had been imperfectly striving for. Within a year, I was a part of the faculty after 10 years at Baylor Law School. Did the mission matter? It did when it drew me to St. Thomas, and it has ever since. Consider, for example, the idea of morality. For too many lawyers, their vocation becomes amoral; they represent whichever side of a dispute walks through the door and offers money. Earlier in my career I was deeply troubled that we talked a lot about ethics – such as working hard for your client – but not much about morality. That’s not true at St. Thomas. In criminal law classes, I challenge my students to think hard about the morality of professional decisions, such as the choices a prosecutor makes within her area of discretion. Sometimes, I find
students who aren’t comfortable with the moral decisions lawyers have to make and part of my job is to change that and help them see the moral dimension to all kinds of legal work. It can be the hardest part of the job. And what of social justice? Our mission challenges us to find and embrace it, but we sometimes differ as to what outcome is just. For example, I might argue for incarceration for certain types of crimes as being just and socially beneficial, while others may argue for leniency and compassion. Which of us is pursuing social justice? The truth is that we both are, and many of our society’s best outcomes spring from those debates. We aren’t afraid to speak openly about social justice, and we also aren’t afraid to discuss the most important contemporary topics in an open, civil way. Truth comes from that. In the end, though, it might be the mission’s reference to faith that is most transformative. That is true even though we on the faculty aren’t of a single faith. Whether Catholic or Jewish or Mennonite or Episcopalian or Baptist, there is a central and transformative fact we all recognize: That there is a God, and I am not God. With that simple fact, all are humbled. In the academy, where egos can become legendary, the fact that we share in prayer matters.
Do I live up to our mission? Of course not. I often fall short of those lofty goals. But does the mission matter? It does. Every day, with every conversation with a student, with each word we write, and with the rise and fall of our own confidence and accomplishments, it matters. Words that strong cannot be ignored. n
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PAID School of Law 1000 LaSalle Ave. Minneapolis, MN 55403-2015
Professor Julie Oseid, seated, converses with Senior Distinguished Fellow Benjamin Carpenter during orientation.
UNIVERSITY OF ST. THOMAS