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Judge
Mel Dickstein
Originally published in
the December 2002 issue.
Author: Robert J. Gilbertson
The
gang of bank robbers from Kansas City had been holding up banks
the old-fashioned way: with stockings pulled over their heads, they
ordered everyone down on the floor, jumped over the counter,
scooped up all the money in sight, and dashed off in a stolen
getaway car. They would then ditch the getaway car, along with
their stockings, overalls, and gloves, and escape in a switch
car. They had foiled law enforcement for years. Arrested once,
they were set free due to a lack of positive eyewitness
identification.
Two
years later, one of the suspected bank robbers, Gary Roberson,
was convicted of a crime in another state and received a lengthy
sentence. Roberson was brought to Minnesota to appear before a federal grand jury, and, while
waiting in jail, met with a young assistant U.S. attorney named
Mel Dickstein. The government had some circumstantial evidence
against the gang of bank robbers, but what it needed was
eyewitness identification. Roberson could provide that, but of
course he wanted a quid pro quo for his testimony. The
young prosecutor told him that there would be no quid pro quo.
Roberson could trust him, or not trust him, but there would be
no promises. Eventually Roberson testified, identifying the
other bank robbers and detailing their participation in the
crime spree.
Judge
Dickstein, one of the newest additions to the Hennepin County
bench, recalls the trial: "There were five excellent
lawyers on the other side. When closing argument came, they all
attacked Roberson. By the time their five arguments were done
after about 32 hours, one would have thought that Roberson was
the devil incarnate." In rebuttal, then-prosecutor
Dickstein referred to the many pieces of literature and
scripture that the various defense counsel had quoted, and
offered up his own favorite poem. He recalls his rebuttal this
way:
The poet Robert Frost
told the story about someone who came to a fork in life and he
had a choice as to which path he was going to take. Gary
Roberson had that same choice here today. He could continue in
the criminal milieu or he could extricate himself; he could
separate himself from it. And once he testified, he was going
down a path from which he could not return because no one
would trust him ever again. Frost said it this way: "I
shall be telling this with a sigh : somewhere ages and ages
hence : two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one
less traveled by : And that has made all the difference."
Gary Roberson will be able to say that someday and he will be
able to say it with pride.
The
jury believed Roberson and convicted the gang of bank robbers.
And so went one of the many dozens of trials conducted by Mel
Dickstein during his tenure as an assistant U. S. attorney, all
resulting in convictions save for one of his earliest cases, in
which the defendant was represented by then-future, now-former
Hennepin County judge Richard Solum.
Retired
FBI agent Dag Sohlberg says that Judge Dickstein "quickly
distinguished himself as an assistant U. S. attorney. Somewhat incongruously,
he was a favorite of FBI agents because of his prosecution
skills, while at the same time criminal defendants expressed
appreciation for the even-handed manner in which he handled
their individual cases." Judge Dickstein looks back on his
time as a prosecutor with pride, and cites with appreciation the
role that U. S.
Attorney Robert Renner and first assistant Thor Anderson, both
of whom later became judges, played in his development as a lawyer.
Judge
Dickstein moved to Minnesota from New York at the age of 14,
graduated from the University of Minnesota, summa cum laude,
in 1969, and earned his law degree from the University of
Minnesota Law School in 1973. After trying criminal and civil
cases on behalf of the United States for four years, he went
into private practice in 1978. He was attracted to the
litigation strength of the Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi
firm and, besides representing criminal defendants, soon built a
reputation in the area of complex insurance litigation.
One of
the firm’s clients, Jack Pomeroy, senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary of Factory
Mutual Insurance Company, says that Judge Dickstein "handled matters of
extreme professional complexity as well as matters of
exceptional personal sensitivity, actions in which hundreds of
millions of dollars were at risk and others where the dollars
were comparatively small, but the importance of the principle
was overriding." According to Pomeroy, Judge Dickstein has
"unbounded energy, total integrity, and seasoned legal ability, and was willing to tell a
client what he doesn’t want to hear, but should."
One of
Judge Dickstein’s most memorable cases with the Robins firm
involved a massive fire in a Philadelphia high-rise office
tower. Dozens of individual and class action lawsuits were
filed, with claims totaling around a billion dollars. "It
was a hugely challenging case and one of the most satisfying
professional endeavors in which I have been involved,"
recalls Judge Dickstein. "It was especially satisfying
because a case of that magnitude is a team effort. It
necessitates working with a number of lawyers and a number of
outside experts. It was the type of case that showcased the
strength of the firm because there were people at the senior
partner level, junior partner level, associate level, paralegal
level, and staff level, all of whom came together to give a
tremendous effort that was ultimately successful." His
former partner, Dick Allyn, head of the Robins firm’s
insurance litigation group, says that Judge Dickstein
"practiced law with a great deal of care and intelligence,
qualities that will make him an excellent judge."
True to
his favorite poem, Judge Dickstein and his wife, Linda Foreman,
have taken many roads less traveled. They have hiked and
backpacked their way across the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the
Himalayas in Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet, as well as rugged terrain
in Alaska, northern Minnesota, Michigan, Arizona, and other
places around the United States. They and their 4-year old son,
Thomas, recently spent a year living in Switzerland. "Every
time we have traveled, particularly to foreign countries, we’ve
been exposed to people, traditions, and issues with which we
simply would not otherwise have had the opportunity to become familiar," he says. Here in his own community, Judge
Dickstein has played a key role with several nonprofit
organizations, including the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery
and the Northern Clay
Center. Kathleen Schaaf, past executive director of the Crisis
Nursery, praises Judge Dickstein for his "peaceful presence
and inclusive and open nature," and calls him "candid,
open, honest, and fair."
During
his time at Robins, Kaplan, Miller, & Ciresi, Judge
Dickstein practiced in federal and state courts across the
United States and, he notes, appeared before judges of every
type. He feels that being exposed to so many different judicial
styles, temperaments, and abilities "was valuable
experience to bring to the job of a state court judge in a large
metropolitan area like Hennepin County."
Judge
Dickstein believes that the three rules for being a good trial
lawyer are "prepare, prepare, prepare," and is
approaching his judgeship in that same way. Besides learning the
court’s procedures and becoming an ardent reader of all the
advance sheets, he has also spent several weeks shadowing judges
and observing their approaches to cases. Says the new judge:
"I am impressed with the humanity that the Hennepin County
judges bring to their work, and with the level of courtesy and
graciousness with which the judges treat people who come before
them."
Based
on his time as a prosecutor and in private practice, Judge
Dickstein brings to the court a reputation for being tough and
aggressive. "But the job of a judge is greater than being
tough and aggressive," he points out. "You have a
broader array of interests to serve in the larger community. One
must be not only tough and aggressive, but compassionate and
feeling and commonsensical and practical. And I hope to bring
all of those attributes to the court."
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