Attorneys involved in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis’ bankruptcy case are being honored by their colleagues as 2018 Attorneys of the Year for their work in the large and complex case.
A $210 million settlement for victim/survivor remuneration and other aspects of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy involved multiple parties and took the work of seven law firms, all of which were recognized together by an independent panel of legal experts for their diligence and service: Briggs and Morgan; Maslon; Manty & Associates; Buckley & Jensen; DeWitt Ross & Stevens; Stinson Leonard Street and Anderson & Associates.
The firms were among 31 honorees in the annual tribute by the Minnesota Lawyer newspaper. The 2018 Attorneys of the Year were chosen for such attributes as leadership, involvement in major cases, excellence in corporate or transactional services, and public service.
The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in January 2015 amid mounting clergy sexual abuse claims after passage of the Minnesota Child Victims Act, which lifted for three years the statute of limitations on historic claims of sexual abuse. Competing plans for reorganization — one by the archdiocese, another by a committee representing victims/survivors — were filed in 2016 and rejected by a judge in late 2017, who ordered the parties to return to mediation. A consensual plan was announced May 31 this year and accepted by the judge Sept. 25. The archdiocese is expected to come out of bankruptcy late this year or early in 2019.
Honorees will be recognized at a Feb. 13 banquet at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Minneapolis.
