Meet the incoming MSBA president
by Michelle Lore Associate Editor
Leo Brisbois (Photo: Bill Klotz) |
Born: Oct. 6, 1961; Aurora, Minn.
Education: Hamline University School of Law, J.D., 1987; Hamline University, B.A. (Social Studies/Secondary Education), 1984
Employment: Senior counsel, Stich, Angell, Kreidler & Dodge, P.A., 1991-present; arbitration panelist, American Arbitration Association, July 1993-present; conciliation court judge, 4th Judicial District, July 2003-present; law clerk, Minnesota Court of Appeals, 1990-91; acting chief, Legal Assistance Office, U.S. Army JAG Corps, 1990; prosecutor, U.S. Army JAG Corps, 1987-1990; assistant staff judge advocate, U.S. Army Reserve, 1998-90
Professional Associations: American Bar Association, Minnesota State Bar Association, Hennepin County Bar Association; 1st District and Iron Range Bar Associations, Minnesota American Indian Bar Association, Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association, Defense Research Institute, American Arbitration Association, Douglas K. Amdahl Inn of Court, National Conference of Bar Presidents, Minnesota Supreme Court committees (member, Racial Fairness in the Courts Committee; member, Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure; member, Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection)
Community Activities: Board of Governors, The Childrens’ Theatre Company; founder, Aaniin! Niiji Scholarship Fund, Hamline University School of Law, 2003; former board member, Anishinabe Legal Services, Indian Child Welfare Law Center and American Indian Policy Center; Hamline University & Hamline University School of Law Alumni Associations; volunteer judge, MSBA/MN State High School Mock Trial Competition and A.M.T.A. Collegiate Mock Trial Competition, Hamline University, 1993-2008
Hobbies/Interests: Family activities, boating, golfing, deer hunting
Personal: Wife, Susan; two children (Paul, Ella)
A milestone is taking place this week when outgoing Minnesota State Bar Association president Mike Ford passes the leadership gavel to Leo Brisbois.Education: Hamline University School of Law, J.D., 1987; Hamline University, B.A. (Social Studies/Secondary Education), 1984
Employment: Senior counsel, Stich, Angell, Kreidler & Dodge, P.A., 1991-present; arbitration panelist, American Arbitration Association, July 1993-present; conciliation court judge, 4th Judicial District, July 2003-present; law clerk, Minnesota Court of Appeals, 1990-91; acting chief, Legal Assistance Office, U.S. Army JAG Corps, 1990; prosecutor, U.S. Army JAG Corps, 1987-1990; assistant staff judge advocate, U.S. Army Reserve, 1998-90
Professional Associations: American Bar Association, Minnesota State Bar Association, Hennepin County Bar Association; 1st District and Iron Range Bar Associations, Minnesota American Indian Bar Association, Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association, Defense Research Institute, American Arbitration Association, Douglas K. Amdahl Inn of Court, National Conference of Bar Presidents, Minnesota Supreme Court committees (member, Racial Fairness in the Courts Committee; member, Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure; member, Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection)
Community Activities: Board of Governors, The Childrens’ Theatre Company; founder, Aaniin! Niiji Scholarship Fund, Hamline University School of Law, 2003; former board member, Anishinabe Legal Services, Indian Child Welfare Law Center and American Indian Policy Center; Hamline University & Hamline University School of Law Alumni Associations; volunteer judge, MSBA/MN State High School Mock Trial Competition and A.M.T.A. Collegiate Mock Trial Competition, Hamline University, 1993-2008
Hobbies/Interests: Family activities, boating, golfing, deer hunting
Personal: Wife, Susan; two children (Paul, Ella)
On July 1, Brisbois will become the first person of American Indian descent to lead the state’s largest bar association. Or, as Brisbois is quick to point out, the first person of “known” American Indian descent, as he can’t rule out the possibility that someone else may have held the top spot without acknowledging his heritage. Up through the 1960s and the civil rights era, being Indian carried a stigma, Brisbois says.
Brisbois is recognized as a “descendant member” of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, where his father, grandfather and grandmother are all enrolled. He hopes the principles and values he learned growing up surrounded by Indian culture will assist him as the next bar president.
“Everything is connected and what we do has consequences,” Brisbois says. “As [the bar association] moves forward and meets its goals and challenges, we have to understand what it is we’re doing, why we’re doing it and what the unintended consequences are going to be. So maybe I bring a little more of an emphasis on that point of view.”
Anticipating the unexpected
For three years Brisbois has been preparing for his stint as MSBA president, beginning with his election as secretary and continuing with his elevation to treasurer and then president-elect. During all of that time he’s been learning about the association’s structure and operation, attending national conferences and meeting bar leaders from other states. One thing he realized in those meetings is that it’s impossible to predict what the bar year will bring.
Brisbois is therefore not heading into his bar year with a set agenda. Instead, he says he’s comfortable doing what needs to be done to make sure that the members’ needs are being met and the future of the bar association is being considered. It’s a philosophy he sees as consistent with Indian leadership style — stepping in at a particular time to meet a particular need of the community.
“You are not there to dictate what everybody is supposed to do or how they should do something, but to try and accomplish something that benefits everyone,” he says.
So while he is hesitant to “lock in too much” to an agenda, Brisbois does hope to at least begin the process of transforming some aspects of the association.
“The profession is changing, the attorneys are changing, the membership is changing, the needs of the members are changing,” he says. “So we’re beginning the process of trying to restructure the association to meet those new needs and demands.”
One of those transformations is the elimination of the traditional multiday annual convention format in favor a new model that will, hopefully, appeal to and attract new members. (See sidebar.)
“I love going to it, but it’s not serving the needs of our members anymore,” he says. “We have almost 16,000 members and we are just not able to reach enough members with that model.”
Legislative help
As was true for his predecessor, Brisbois expects much of his time as bar president to be dictated by the economy and the effect it continues to have on the justice system.
The economic downturn meant the bar association was especially busy at the Legislature this past session — fighting for adequate funding for the courts, public defense and Legal Aid and opposing a proposed tax on legal services. According to Brisbois, bar association members sent nearly 7,000 letters in opposition to the tax, made untold numbers of phone calls and appeared in town hall meetings across the state to educate citizens and lawmakers on the harm the tax would cause if adopted.
“If it comes up again next year it will probably be because of continuing economic issues. … But we’ll be there trying to bring the information to educate the members of the Legislature again,” Brisbois says.
Members also spent time during the last legislative session encouraging lawmakers to consider judicial election reform, pushing to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot.
Brisbois anticipates the association will confront many of the same issues during the next session.
“That’s going to be a big part of what is going to drive a lot of activity in the coming years. There’s a lot still on the legislative plate and there is a lot coming down the road potentially.”
In an effort to reform or “beef up” the MSBA’s legislative activities next year, Brisbois says the association intends to add an on-staff lobbyist to complement the current contract lobbyist. In addition to lobbying, the new person will be responsible for legislative management, coordinating and promoting the association’s legislative agenda, which seems to get busier every year.
“I don’t see that going away,” says Brisbois. “Legislative issues used to pop up historically from time to time, but they seem to be constant challenges now, so we need to be constantly prepared to address them and respond.”
The importance of education
Unlike a lot of attorneys, Brisbois didn’t grow up hoping to go to law school. In fact, his initial goal was to become a teacher like his father, who worked hard to escape the cycle of poverty that dominates so much of the Indian community. Brisbois’s grandmother and her sister were educators as well, having taught students in a one-room schoolhouse on the reservation.
After graduating from Hamline University with a degree in social studies and secondary education, however, Brisbois realized that the market for teachers at the time was almost nonexistent. So he turned his sights elsewhere.
Fortuitously, just a few years before he began attending Hamline it had started up a new law school, completing construction on a brand-new building in 1980. With this frequent exposure to the law school and his belief that law, like education, was a public service profession, he applied and was accepted to the law school.
“It just made sense,” he says, noting that his family impressed on him at a young age the importance of education and doing well in school.
Brisbois says he’s where he is today only because of the struggles and sacrifices of the American Indians who endured and overcame outright prejudice and violence, including attacks on their families and cultures. He is also conscious of those who struggled to overcome economic and educational challenges to become lawyers. It was his participation in the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association and the people he met there that got him thinking further about serving the profession.
“That’s what started this track here,” he says of his road to the MSBA presidency. “So as the first Indian president of the state bar association, it means a lot to me because I owe all of those people. It’s not anything that I’ve done; it’s everything that all of those people have done. And I am not going to let them down.”
