This page is not about advertising my legal services, but to explain the breadth of the work I have already done, so I will not talk about wins and losses. Rather, I want voters from throughout North Dakota to know that my professional perspective is not limited to one corner of the state, one type of case, or uncomplicated matters.
My undergraduate degree from the University of North Dakota is a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, with a minor in math. I graduated summa cum laude with departmental honors. I sang in the Varsity Bards men’s choir and the Goliards ensemble, and was an officer in the Association of Computing Machinery.
I went to law school at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, our nation’s first law school. It was founded by Thomas Jefferson, who had studied at the College earlier in his life, and is named for both George Wythe (an accomplished professor and lawyer) and John Marshall (the United States Supreme Court Chief Justice, a student of the law school). While in law school, I was a member of the Federalist Society and the Inns of Court.
I took the Virginia bar exam, which is regarded as one of the hardest in the country, and passed. I was admitted to practice law in Virginia and then, by motion (without taking more bar exams), in North Dakota and Minnesota. I later took the Montana bar exam and passed. I have let my Virginia license go inactive, but remain licensed in ND, MN, and MT.
North Dakota’s 53 counties are divided into 8 judicial districts. I have handled at least one contested civil case in each of those districts. I have handled countless criminal cases as a prosecuting attorney in McKenzie County. I have also appeared in the federal courts in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana, as well as state court in several counties in Montana.
A typical civil case in North Dakota will have from two dozen to one hundred documents filed in it from start to finish. For comparison, my most complicated cases have been a single lawsuit with over 1,300 documents filed in it and a partnership dispute that led to at least 9 different lawsuits (in 2 states and 4 counties) with over 2,000 documents filed among them. In that case, I was the only lawyer on our side. One of the lawsuits went to a jury trial in which over 300 exhibits were presented to the jury. Organizing a case of that complexity with so many documents in a way that the judge and jury could make sense of was a crowning achievement in my career.
I have handled dozens of appellate cases, mostly in the North Dakota Supreme Court plus a few in the federal Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. My published cases show some of the breadth of my career, including:
- Schmidt v. Gateway Community Fellowship, 2010 ND 69. Recreational use immunity depends on the totality of the circumstances when there were both recreational and business purposes for the injured person’s presence on the land.
- Rickert v. Dakota Sanitation Plus, 2012 ND 37. A dissenting shareholder is entitled to the value of his shares at the time of the decision he dissents from, even if the value changes after that decision.
- Waldock v. Amber Harvest Corp., 2012 ND 180. The Duhig rule did not apply to a deed from the administrator of an estate, the language of which clearly limited the grant to the decedent’s interest in the minerals.
- Wagner v. Crossland Construction Company, 2013 ND 219. Language in a deed that referred to an easement did not necessarily create an easement, requiring closer analysis and a trial to resolve.
- Tank v. Citation Oil & Gas Corp., 2014 ND 123. The Pugh clause in an oil and gas lease allowed the lease to expire as to non-producing tracts of land after the end of the primary term.
- Fleck v. Missouri River Royalty Corporation, 2015 ND 287. An oil and gas lease that is held beyond its primary term by production requires production in paying quantities.
- State v. Francis, 2016 ND 154, cert. denied 137 S.Ct. 579, 196 L.Ed.2d 447 (2016). The state law prohibiting campaign activities within a specified distance from the entrance to the polling place was not an unconstitutional infringement on the right to free speech.
- Statoil Oil & Gas v. Abaco Energy, 2017 ND 148. A dispute over ownership of minerals adjacent to and beneath the Missouri River and Lake Sakakawea, where both the state and federal governments claim ownership, could not be decided in state court.
- Gerrity Bakken v. Oasis Petroleum North America, 2018 ND 180. A quiet title judgment that omits necessary parties, including the lessees of mineral owners, is not binding.
- Kluver v. SGJ Holdings, 2023 ND 65. The judgment entered after a jury trial on breach of contract, converstion, deceit, defamation, and unlawful interference with business, along with a court decision quieting title to land, was affirmed.
- State v. Chambers, 2025 ND 178. The criminal defendant’s rights were not violated because there was a sufficient factual basis to support the attempted murder charge to which he pleaded guilty.
I am not only a courtroom lawyer, though. I have helped many clients negotiate fair farm leases, oil and gas leases, pipeline easements, and other transactions. I have helped form many companies, including several successful nonprofit organizations. I have helped clients from many other states and foreign countries to understand and protect their property rights in North Dakota. I have written wills and trusts and probated estates.
On occasion, I have also testified to state legislative committees about the unintended consequences that they should consider when drafting new laws.
Bar Admissions
I have been admitted to practice in the following courts:
- North Dakota since December 13, 2007
- Minnesota since November 18, 2008
- Montana since June 22, 2009
- Virginia since October 29, 2007 (inactive)
- United States District Court, District of North Dakota since January 18, 2008
- United States District Court, District of Minnesota since January 10, 2019
- United States District Court, District of Montana since December 7, 2015
- United States Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth CIrcuit since September 4, 2012
- Supreme Court of the United States of America since August 26, 2016
Professional Memberships
- State Bar Association of North Dakota
- Minnesota State Bar Association
- State Bar of Montana
- American Bar Association
- American Association for Justice – past North Dakota State Delegate
- North Dakota Association for Justice – President 2018-2019, Board of Governors 2010-present, recipient of 2024 Seventh Amendment Award
I have never been disciplined or reprimanded for a breach of ethics or unprofessional conduct by any court, administrative agency, bar association, disciplinary committee, or other professional group.