For Referring & Out-of-State Counsel
Local counsel who actually reads the file.
You have worked with the other kind. A name on the signature block, a pro hac vice motion, an invoice, and nothing else. That is not a partnership — it is a toll. Bring us into a Minnesota matter and you get a second lawyer on the case.
The Difference
Two ways to be local counsel
Minnesota requires an active member of its bar to move a visiting lawyer's admission, accept service of papers, and be present for the initial appearance. Every firm in town can do that much. The question is what happens in the eleven months after.
The arrangement you have had before
- Signs the pro hac vice motion and disappears.
- Learns the case from the caption.
- Forwards the notice of hearing without comment.
- Finds out about a filing when you forward it.
- Appears at the hearing to satisfy the rule, and says nothing.
- Cannot tell you how the assigned judge handles this motion, because they have not looked.
- Declines the substantive work — that is your job.
- Bills for the appearance and the filing fee.
What we do instead
- Reads the pleadings, the operative contract, and the record before the first appearance.
- Tells you what we think — including when we think the theory has a Minnesota problem.
- Monitors the docket independently and flags what was filed the day it lands.
- Pulls the assigned judge's standing orders and practice pointers before any motion package goes out.
- Argues the motion on the merits, or hands it back to you fully prepped — your call.
- Writes. Briefing, discovery, dispositive motions, appellate work if it gets there.
- Takes fee division under Rule 1.5(e) proportional to work performed, because we intend to perform some.
- Sends a written report after every appearance, whether or not you asked.
Arrangements
Three ways in
Structure the engagement to the case, not to a template. Fee arrangements are flexible — hourly, flat per appearance, or division of fee under Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 1.5(e) — and we will tell you which one we think fits before you commit to anything.
Co-Counsel & Trial Partner
A real division of labor on a Minnesota case — pleadings, discovery, motion practice, experts, and a seat at counsel table. Fees divided under Rule 1.5(e) in proportion to the work actually done.
See how it works02Appearance & Coverage Counsel
Discrete hearings, status and scheduling conferences, motion arguments, and depositions when the trip to Minnesota does not make sense. Briefed properly, argued on the merits, reported back in writing.
See how it works03Referral Relationships
Two directions. Matters that belong in Minnesota, and matters we send out when another firm is the better fit. Your client stays your client, and you hear how it is going without having to ask.
See how it worksWhat You Are Actually Buying
Infrastructure, not just an appearance
A small firm can be more responsive than a large one or less — it depends entirely on what it has built. We have spent years building the systems that make a two-person firm run like a much larger one, and we write publicly about how.
Docket monitoring that runs whether or not you call
Every matter the firm touches sits in an automated e-service and filing monitor that surfaces new filings the day they hit the docket. You find out something was filed against your client because we tell you — not because you happened to check.
An independent citation-verification gate
Nothing with legal authority in it leaves this firm until a second reviewer has pulled every cited case, statute, and rule from the source and confirmed it exists, says what it is cited for, and is quoted correctly. Your name is going on that filing too.
Deadline control built for Minnesota's traps
Minnesota commences an action by service and deems it dismissed with prejudice if it is not filed within a year. Motion deadlines run backward from a hearing date you have to obtain first. Those dates get calendared at intake, not discovered later.
Local knowledge that is specific, not folkloric
Which judge wants courtesy copies, which chambers publish practice pointers that override the local rules, how a particular county's court administration actually schedules a motion. We check the assigned judge's standing orders before the first filing, every time.
Substantive capacity, not just a signature
Business and commercial litigation, consumer and credit litigation, personal injury, creditor and debtor remedies, judgment enforcement, and appellate work. If the case needs briefing written rather than reviewed, that is work we want.
One lawyer, reachable
You will not be routed to an associate who has not read the file, and you will not lose a week to an intake process. The lawyer you talk to at the outset is the lawyer standing up in court.
Where We Appear
Forums
David J.S. Madgett is licensed in Minnesota and appears in the state's trial and appellate courts and in the federal courts sitting here.
Free, and Genuinely Useful
Ten things that surprise out-of-state counsel about Minnesota
Minnesota is not a quirky jurisdiction, but it is a specific one, and several of its specifics are case-dispositive. Every item is cited to the rule or statute itself.
Serving the summons commences the action. Filing does not.
A Minnesota civil action commences against each defendant when the summons is served on that defendant — not when a complaint is filed with the court. Lawyers from filing-first jurisdictions routinely miscalculate a limitations date on this alone.
Minn. R. Civ. P. 3.01An unfiled case dies at one year — with prejudice.
An action not filed with the court within one year of commencement is deemed dismissed with prejudice against all parties, unless the parties sign a stipulation to extend the filing period within that year. There is no motion to make afterward.
Minn. R. Civ. P. 5.04(a)Motion deadlines run backward from a hearing date you must obtain first.
You get a hearing date from court administration, then count back: dispositive motion papers served and filed at least 28 days before, responses 14 days before, replies 7 days before. Nondispositive motions move to 21 days. Memoranda cap at 35 pages, counting the reply.
Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 115.02–115.05Start Here
Send us the caption and the next deadline.
That is genuinely all we need to tell you whether we can help, whether we have a conflict, and what we think of the posture. No intake questionnaire, no discovery call about your firm's needs. If the answer is that you want a different firm, we will say so and suggest one.
Conflicts are checked before we discuss any substance. Please do not send confidential client information in a first message — the caption, the court, and the deadline are enough to start. Nothing here is legal advice, no result in any matter predicts a result in another, and contacting the firm does not create an attorney–client relationship.