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.