Ryan L. Nilsen
by Michelle Lore
Photo by Bill Klotz |
Born: Dec. 18, 1974; Edina, Minn.
Education: University of Minnesota Law School, J.D., 2000; University of Minnesota, B.A., 1997
Employment: Bowman and Brooke, associate/partner, 2000-present
Professional Associations: DRI, Hennepin County Bar Association, Minnesota State Bar Association
Community Activities: Woodland Hills Church
Hobbies/Interests: Camping, community theater, hiking, mountain biking
Family: Wife, Melissa; one daughter
Bowman and Brooke, L.L.P.
Education: University of Minnesota Law School, J.D., 2000; University of Minnesota, B.A., 1997
Employment: Bowman and Brooke, associate/partner, 2000-present
Professional Associations: DRI, Hennepin County Bar Association, Minnesota State Bar Association
Community Activities: Woodland Hills Church
Hobbies/Interests: Camping, community theater, hiking, mountain biking
Family: Wife, Melissa; one daughter
All the courtroom’s a stage for Bowman and Brooke attorney Ryan L. Nilsen, who’s been acting since high school.
His last venture onto the stage was in 2004, when as an associate he managed to find time to be a key player in a community theater production of “Once Upon a Mattress,” a musical based on the fairy tale “Princess and the Pea.”
Nilsen has since made partner, and while his busy defense practice has kept him from participating in the theater for the past several years, he views his work as a trial lawyer as similar to that of an actor.
“In both situations you have an audience — you have a jury or you have your [theater] audience — and I think in both situations you have something you are trying to convey, whether it’s a theme in a trial or your lines in a play,” Nilsen says. “A trial, like a good script, should tell a story.”
Most of Nilsen’s law practice involves real-life stories with at least two characters: an injured plaintiff and an entity accused of causing the harm. Much of his job consists of defending large corporate clients — Ecolab, Polaris and Mitsubishi Motors, to name a few — against high-exposure personal-injury or product-liability claims filed in courts around the country.
In less than eight years of practice, the young lawyer has:
• taken dozens of expert depositions;
• mediated multimillion-dollar cases across the country;
• argued summary judgment motions in six different state and federal courts;
• delivered the opening statement in a million-dollar commercial jury trial; and
• first-chaired several low-dollar product-liability and personal-injury cases.
One aspect Nilsen particularly enjoys about his law practice is learning a little bit about a lot of different topics. He has deposed experts in diverse areas such as toxicology, industrial hygiene, oncology and chemistry.
“It’s never the same thing,” he says. “You become an expert, or at least try to become an expert, in whatever area of expertise your witness has.”
While he enjoys trial work, Nilsen has also successfully guided at least four cases through the appellate process, including a recent medical device case in which the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for his client.
When he’s not engaged in discovery, trial preparation or an appeal, Nilsen is writing or speaking on topics of interest to other defense lawyers, both locally and nationally. He also serves as a mentor to associates within his own law firm, particularly in the areas of taking and defending depositions, and preparing and responding to discovery requests.
Nilsen also manages to make time for DRI, currently serving in a leadership position with its Young Lawyers Committee.
While his law practice, extracurricular activities and young daughter are keeping him plenty busy at the moment, Nilsen is confident that he’ll be back on stage again someday. “My wife supports me in doing it, but right now I’m the one holding me back because I want to be there for her,” he says. “And I also want to be there for my daughter. I am having so much fun with her.”
