Minneapolis (06-10-03): -- The Hennepin County Bar Association’s Executive Committee welcomes two new members to its team: Michael Unger, newly elected HCBA Secretary; and Jerrie Hayes, newly elected chair of the New Lawyers Section. Unger and Hayes enrich the committee by their significant legal skills, bar experience, and community involvement. They join the four returning Executive Committee members (President John Dornik; President-elect Brent Routman; Treasurer Marlene Garvis, and Past President Jean Holloway) in providing leadership for the 8,000 member professional association.

Michael Unger, a partner at Rider Bennett, LLP, is an experienced litigator, arbitrator, and mediator. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota, summa cum laude, and was a cum laude graduate of the University’s law school in 1981. In private practice since 1983, Unger’s represents clients on medical malpractice and health law; business, commercial, employment, and personal injury litigation matters; and he is certified as a Civil Trial Specialist by the Minnesota State Bar Association. In addition, Unger, a Minnesota Supreme Court qualified neutral, often acts as an arbitrator or mediator on alternative dispute resolution matters.

Unger is an active member of the bar, currently serving on the Minnesota Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure, past chair of the Merit Selection Panel for U.S. Magistrate Judges, and a past president of the Hennepin County Bar Foundation. He has played a significant leadership role in a wide variety of community organizations, including president of the University of Minnesota Alumni Association and a member of the Board of Directors for the Greater Twin Cities United Way. He also has served on the Board of Regents at the University of Minnesota.

Unger’s priorities for the HCBA include "improving diversity, enhancing the value of membership, and raising the image of lawyers in the public perception."

Jerrie Hayes is an attorney at Moss & Barnett, where she practices in the areas of labor and employment; construction, mechanics lien, and land use; securities; real estate and landlord-tenant, insurance coverage, professional malpractice, contract and business torts, intellectual property, and products liability litigation matters. She also represents clients in mediations, administrative law proceedings, and professional board hearings.

Hayes received her undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri, summa cum laude, and her law degree from the University of Minnesota in 1997, magna cum laude. She is a member of the HCBA, MSBA, ABA, the Federal Bar Association, and Minnesota Women Lawyers, serving as the organization’s judicial liaison to the Fourth Judicial District (Hennepin County). Her community involvement includes membership in the American Society for Human Resource Management, the Women’s Club of Minneapolis, and American Women in Law and Leadership, of which she is a founder and board member.

The Hennepin County Bar Association, the largest of Minnesota's 21 local bar associations and representing almost half of Minnesota's attorneys, is a private, non-profit organization which provides a wide variety of membership services and supports free or low-cost services to the public including: Volunteer Lawyers Network which provides free legal advice for low income people; TEL-LAW, a legal information message system available at no charge in local calling areas; Lawyer Referral and Information Services; public education programming; and financial grants through the Bar Foundation.