Super Lawyers and the Bar Association
By Michael J. Ford

Within not all that distant memory, I took the occasion of writing a message to the younger attorneys in my firm about the benefits of being active in the organized bar.  In this instance it was the annual meeting of the Seventh District Bar Association, which encompasses Saint Cloud, where my firm practices. 

My message follows.

Shortly after joining this firm I took some depositions with an excellent trial attorney, who was effusive in his praise of Richard Quinlivan as one of the best trial attorneys in the state, if not the best. 

I asked this attorney how many cases he had tried to a verdict with Dick Quinlivan and he replied that although he had had cases with Richard, taken depositions, argued motions, and the like, he had never tried a case to a verdict with Dick.

My suspicion at the time, and it has been borne out by almost 30 years of observation, is that this attorney was willing to anoint Richard Quinlivan as a “super lawyer” (we didn’t have those designations in those days) based upon his observation of Richard during depositions and motion practice, coupled with Richard Quinlivan’s work in the organized bar.

Dick Quinlivan was not only an accomplished trial attorney, much more accomplished than I am or ever will be, but he was a committed member of the profession.  He and Dick Mahoney and a number of other attorneys formed the Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association in 1962, when Dick was in his early forties.   

Dick was active in the American Bar Association (ABA).  In fact, he and his father dissolved their law firm and formed another one because Dick’s father’s partner at the time tried to make it difficult for Dick to attend the annual ABA meeting in New York. 

Six months after I joined this firm, Richard called me into his office and directed me to present myself the following day to “the Hughes twins” and ride with them to the Seventh District annual meeting in Wadena (Dick went separately).  I dutifully did so and rode up with Kevin and Keith Hughes, who regaled me during the trip with their analyses of the foibles of the lawyers and the judges in the Seventh District, as Dick knew they would.  You see, my attendance at that meeting was part of the socialization effort that Richard undertook with me. 

This year Steve Schwegman and I were, again, named Super Lawyers.  I can’t speak for Steve because for my money he is a super lawyer. 

I can speak for myself when I say that there are most certainly lawyers in this law firm and in this state who are much more “super” than me when it comes to trying cases who have not been anointed as super lawyers. 

They, and you, are not likely to get that sort of recognition without being active in the organized bar. 

In this area, that means the Stearns\Benton Bar, the Seventh District Bar, the Minnesota State Bar and, for the insurance defense attorneys in the crowd, the Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association. 

However, much more important than being recognized as a super lawyer, now is the time for you to take your place in the struggle to make and keep this profession what it is and can be. 

Dick Quinlivan assumed a leadership role in the Minnesota State Bar Association not because he needed the recognition.  He agreed to serve because throughout his career he showed up. 

He showed up at local, state, and national bar meetings.  He contributed. 

Now it’s your turn.

MICHAEL J. FORD is president of the Minnesota State Bar Association. A shareholder in the law firm of Quinlivan & Hughes, PA, St. Cloud, Minnesota, he is a graduate of St. John’s University and received his JD from the William Mitchell College of Law. He concentrates his practice in the areas of civil litigation, insurance coverage, employment and government liability, and land use and general casualty law.