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Chris
Morris is 91st President of the Hennepin County Bar Association
Minneapolis (06-15-09):
--Christopher
R. Morris will take his place as the 91st
president of the Hennepin County Bar Association (HCBA)
on July 1. Morris is a shareholder in the Bassford
Remele law firm.
A Twin
Cities native, graduating from Alexander Ramsey High
School, Morris completed his undergraduate work at
Harvard University before returning to law school at the
University of Minnesota. He graduated cum laude
in 1992. Following law school, Morris clerked for the
Honorable Gary Crippen at the Minnesota Court of
Appeals, a time he values as an excellent transition
between the world of academia in law school and private
practice.
Morris
then joined Bassford Remele, where he has remained ever
since. A shareholder at the firm since 2000, Morris
focuses his practice on representing businesses and
individuals in commercial disputes and defending
attorneys and other professionals against malpractice
and consumer protection claims.
Morris
began volunteering with the HCBA during his first year
in practice, joining its professionalism committee. He
eventually co-chaired that committee as well as chairing
the association’s Finance and Planning Committee with
the task of overseeing the development of a five-year
strategic plan for the association.
Consistent with his focus on professionalism and ethics,
Morris also served for a number of years as a volunteer
investigator for the Fourth Judicial District’s Ethics
Committee.
Morris
and his wife, Sarah (a partner at the Lind, Jensen,
Sullivan & Peterson law firm), have two young children.
In his personal time, he coaches youth sports and is
training his children to love golf. The more they get
exited about the sport, the more time he will have to
pursue his hobby.
Morris
notes that he does not expect to introduce bold new
initiatives, but rather to use his energies to further
support four specific longer term efforts around issues
that cannot be solved in the span of a year. Those
include increasing pro bono service by lawyers,
increasing funding for the courts, supporting judicial
independence under an appointment and retention model,
and finalizing and implementing of the Call for Justice,
which will provide improved and immediate legal advice
through a hotline for many in need of legal help.
Morris’s
passion for the profession predicts a busy and
productive year for the association and its 8,400
members.
Also
serving on the 2009-2010 Executive Committee of the
Hennepin County Bar Association are:
Courtney
Ward-Reichard, President-elect,
Halleland Lewis Nilan & Johnson
Jewelie
Grape, Treasurer, ELCA Board of
Pensions
Thomas
Jensen, Secretary, Lind,
Jensen, Sullivan & Peterson
Mary
Vasaly, Past President, Maslon,
Edelman, Borman & Brand
Sarah
Dunn Rohne, New Lawyers Section Chair Attorney at Law
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