I've lived in the Rochester, Minnesota area, which is the center of the eight county Southeast corner of Minnesota, for most of my childhood and all of my adult life, with the exception of post-high school education and military service. I graduated in 1972 from the University of Minnesota Law School, having received my BA from the University as well. Following law school, I served in the U.S. Army Reserve (USAR) Medical Service Corps and was ultimately discharged from duty as a captain.
Having grown up in Rochester, Minnesota, home of the Mayo Clinic, I've had an interest in medicine and biology since boyhood. I did a stint as an autopsy assistant at the University of Minnesota and joined the Medical Service Corps because of my interest in medicine, although it became clear in college that my talents lie elsewhere than medicine. Starting out as a general practitioner, my area of interest has always been trial law, so I struck out on my own in 1988 with the intent of practicing personal injury law exclusively. I was fortunate to be the first trial lawyer to obtain a verdict in excess of one million dollars in Southeast Minnesota and have annually been named one of Minnesota's "Super Lawyers" as a personal injury specialist by Minnesota Law & Politics Magazine.
Out of personal interest and as a collector, I regularly commuted to the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota for several years to work on a Masters in Art History but the burden of night-time commuting and an active practice has forced me to shelve that interest until a later day. I started big game hunting in the 1980's and have hunted in Canada, Alaska, Mexico and four countries in South America, as well as England, Australia, and New Zealand. My real interest, though, was hunting in Africa. I did a dozen safaris there, ultimately focusing exclusively on elephant hunting. Now, I'm pretty much committed to bird hunting, both in the US and dove, duck and pigeon hunting in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
I've been married for 30 years and have two daughters, one of whom is a veterinarian in the Madison, Wisconsin area, while my younger daughter practices law with me. All in all, I consider that I've been a pretty fortunate guy.
