What's Important?
At Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, L.L.P., we measure our success not only by our clients and how we can help them but by our commitment to giving back to our communities. We created a philanthropic foundation back in 1999 with a $30 million commitment from our firm. The Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi Foundation for Children focuses on improving children's lives, with a mission to serve as a catalyst for creative, innovative, and systems-changing programs promoting education and equal opportunities for all of Minnesota's children and youth.
I have spent 27 years honing a diverse problem-solving practice in all types of complex business disputes. For example, I represented a client in a four-week trial involving the complex valuation of a perpetual business agreement that had been terminated. I have represented clients involved in the breakdown of substantial outsourcing of business operations, including F&A and IT. I have sought and obtained reimbursement of millions of dollars for clients who alleged they were wrongfully damaged by fraudulent health-care schemes but have also helped clients, through litigation, obtain regulatory approval for spending of millions of dollars for desired heath care programs. I have achieved summary defense judgments for clients accused of securities fraud, trademark infringement and copyright infringement. I have represented clients involved in complex probate matters, including the successful recovery of misappropriation of trust funds as well as defending challenges to a will and trust involving substantial assets.
Of course complex business disputes often involve issues of intellectual property and antitrust litigation. This has been a substantial part of my experience. For ten years I represented Unocal Corporation with respect to its patents on reformulated gasoline technology, achieving infringement verdicts against ARCO, Chevron, Exxon, Mobil, Shell and Texaco. Those patents would also become the subject of antitrust claims brought by the Federal Trade Commission in a trial lasting several months which only concluded when the patents were acquired by another oil company. I successfully opposed at the district court and Federal Circuit Court of Appeals patent infringement and judicial interference claims brought by Talbert Fuel Systems Patents Company. My representation of clients in patent disputes has ranged from magnetic resonance imaging to polymers to antivirus technology to web browser technology. On behalf of Best Buy, I successfully upheld through summary judgment the use of their trade name and trademark as it expanded its presence across the country. I have prosecuted antitrust claims of price-fixing and anticompetitive conduct. I have prosecuted and defended and then successfully resolved disputes involving Lanham Act and false advertising claims on behalf of and against well-known companies.
By way of example, my representation of clients has included the following companies:
- Kraft Foods Global, Inc.,
- Best Buy Co., Inc.,
- Carlson Company,
- Delta Dental of Minnesota,
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota,
- Fair Isaac Corporation,
- CML Group, Inc.,
- ExxonMobil Chemical Company and
- General Electric Company.
I have been an elected member of the Executive Board of our firm since 2008 and served as its Ethics Partner from 2000-2010. I am a member of the state bars of Minnesota, Kansas and Missouri and am admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth, Ninth and Federal Circuit as well as the United States Supreme Court. I received my J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1985.