News and Updates

NAMWOLF CEO, Joel Stern, recently participated in the webinar “How to Increase Diverse Spend in the Legal Category” organized by the Buying Legal Council. Hosted by Adrienne Fox, Director of Global Procurement – Legal Services at Novartis, and Milly Parekh, Legal Services Manager, at Johnson & Johnson, the webinar featured a wide-range of resources corporations ...

For the third consecutive year, Blackwell Burke earned Benchmark Litigation’s highest recognition as Minnesota Firm of the Year. Blackwell Burke was selected from a short list of “highly recommended” firms that included Dorsey & Whitney, Faegre Baker Daniels, Maslon LLP, Robins Kaplan, Bowman and Brooke, and Ciresi Conlin among others. These firms are consistently mentioned ...

COLUMBIA, SC:  Amy Gaffney, Regina Lewis, and Lee Ellen Bagley are excited to notify our NAMWOLF colleagues and friends that as of March 1, Gaffney Lewis & Edwards, South Carolina’s women-owned, ethnically-diverse litigation firm, will become GaffneyLewis, LLC.   Former partner, Susan (Edwards) Strom, has started a boutique, family law practice and will no longer be ...

On December 17, 2018, the Appellate Court of Illinois (First District) held that the de facto officer doctrine should be applied to bar a challenge by a correctional officer to the constitution of the Cook County Sheriff’s Merit Board.  Steven Cruz v. Thomas J. Dart, et al., 2018 IL App (1st) 170915-U. The Cruz decision is the second to be ...

Scharf Banks Marmor LLC recently won a motion to disqualify plaintiff’s counsel in a federal employment action before Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer in Nawara v. County of Cook, et al., Case No. 17-cv-2393 (N.D. Ill.)  The motion arose from the lawyer’s secret representation of the former Executive Director of Human Resources at the Cook County Sheriff’s Office ...

Ashley Larson obtained summary judgment in a premises liability matter, in which a plaintiff sought to circumvent a valid waiver of liability when suing a recreational facility for personal injuries. The Plaintiff alleged she utilized “defective equipment” at the recreational facility causing her to sustain “serious injuries necessitating surgery on her back requiring medical, surgical, and ...

Blackwell Burke P.A., a go-to law firm for high stakes litigation, was honored with the 2018 3M Supplier of the Year Award in recognition of the firm’s contribution to improving 3M’s competitiveness.  This year, 3M recognized 16 suppliers — among thousands in its global supply base — for world class performance in providing products or ...