Mary Vasaly Begins Five-Year Ladder in Bar Association Leadership

Minneapolis (06-22-05): -- Mary Vasaly has been elected as Secretary of the Hennepin County Bar Association, beginning a five-year sequence on the association’s leadership track. She is scheduled to be president of the 8,000-member professional association in 2008-09.

A native Minnesotan, Vasaly attended the University of Minnesota for both her undergraduate and law school studies. She attended nursing school for two years, then worked as a nurse while attending law school, graduating in 1983. She is a partner at the Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand law firm where she has a commercial litigation and appellate practice. She also practices in the area of probate and trust. In the last several years, Vasaly successfully argued cases before the Minnesota Court of Appeals that established new case law in the areas of probate and trust, and in dissolution and spousal maintenance.
 

Active in a wide range of law-related activities, Vasaly is chair of the Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section’s Appellate Advocacy Committee of the American Bar Association (ABA), is president-elect of Minnesota Women Lawyers, and is the immediate past chair of the Council of Appellate Lawyers of the ABA’s Judicial Division. She serves on the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Judicial Elections Committee and the Litigation Section’s Governing Council. She has served as adjunct professor for the Maynard Persig Moot Court and legal writing at the University of Minnesota. Her pro bono commitment has been extensive, and she recently received the Ramsey County Bar Association’s 2005 Pro Bono Award. She provides brief advice and direct representation for low-income clients through various volunteer lawyer groups, and also mentors law students at the University of St. Thomas Law School. Vasaly also writes and lectures on appellate advocacy.


Vasaly is excited about her new role in the HCBA leadership, seeing it as another way for her to get involved in the community. She would like to see many more of her colleagues getting actively involved. “You get much more out of it than you give,” she notes, citing the opportunities for education, career enhancement, and professional networking.
 

Vasaly is also involved in the community in other ways, including serving on the board of the Continental Ballet Company in Bloomington. Noting that she has been dancing for as long as she can remember, she praised its benefits, “Not only is dance great fun, it is also wonderful exercise and a great way to relax and clear my mind of the day’s stress.” Along with her professional commitments, Vasaly, mother of three, spends as much time with family as possible.
 

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Also serving on the 2005-2006 Executive Committee of the Hennepin County Bar Association are:

Michael Unger, President-elect, Rider Bennett

Sonia Miller-Van Oort, Treasurer, Flynn Gaskins & Bennett

Mary Vasaly, Secretary, Maslon, Edelman, Borman & Brant

Brent Routman, Past President, Merchant & Gould

Lori Semke Chair, New Lawyers Section, Flynn Gaskins & Bennett

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Photo available by email on request. Contact colleen@hcba.org
 
Interviews can be arranged through Duane Stanley, HCBA Communications Director at duane@hcba.org

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