Benjamin Denton Email & Phone Number

Park Rapids, Minnesota, United States

Assistant County Attorney

Pipestone, Minnesota, United States

City-attorney or assistant-city-attorney of Pipestone, Luverne, Edgerton, Ihlen, Ruthton, Jasper. Tried five jury trials and several bench trials, one of which the Minnesota Court of Appeals by published decision (865 N.W.2d 315) upheld trial-court order in client's favor. Drafted new codification of city code (pending); advised municipal clients in unemployment appeals, tax-increment-financing districts, special-assessments, real-estate purchases/sales; blighted-properties nuisance-abatement and hazardous-building-removal actions, one of which involved exercise of eminent-domain. Represented clients in contested hearings before Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings, Office of Municipal Boundary Adjustments, Unemployment Bureau, public-sector-employer human-resources boards. Title-insurance agent for Attorney’s Title Guaranty Fund.

employed (6/08-11/09) as document review attorney; Retained by a leading Minneapolis firm as part of a team assisting in the discovery process in multistate pharmaceutical litigation. Was one of a select group of six attorneys chosen by a leading New York firm to work in Europe (6/09) for further assistance in this litigation.

Fairfax, Minnesota, United States

Responsibilities included representation in consumer bankruptcies, loan workout situations, collections, real estate matters related to bank premises. Interviewed and accepted/denied loan applicants. Helped review financial statements of agricultural loan customers. Drafted and argued proposed legislation before Minnesota Senate Judiciary Committee. Drafted partnership articles of incorporation and termination agreements for two agricultural ventures. Reviewed and amended bank policy in electronic data security, lending procedures and underwriting criteria. Introduced insurance and health savings accounts.

Employed as an associate attorney in private practice (9/04 – 7/05). Was city prosecutor for City of Fairfax (11/04 – 7/05). Argued and won one court trial, two contested omnibus hearings, one civil forfeiture, one contested hearing for demolition of uninhabitable premises. Responsibilities in private caseload involved wills, probates, basic-level estate planning, corporate law, title opinions, bankruptcy petitions, debtor/creditor relations, completing estate tax/fiduciary income tax returns.

Responsibilities included drafting judicial findings of fact and legal conclusions, judicial orders and accompanying legal opinions, jury instructions, legal research memoranda. Drafted an order initially reversed by Minn. court of appeals (2005 WL 44823) but ultimately affirmed by Minn. supreme court (713 N.W.2d 817). Involved in helping adjudicate felony and misdemeanor offenses (including one first-degree murder trial) and cases involving family law, estate planning and probate, environmental law, insurance law, legal malpractice, juvenile adjudications, parental rights termination proceedings.

Was an American associate in "Corporate / M & A service line" of major German law firm in "Ernst & Young Law Alliance". Drafted tax informational statements and opinion letters. Translated and drafted - among other documents - corporate articles of association, corporate purchase, refinancing, licensing agreements.

Drafted motions for summary judgment, complaints, stipulations, discovery requests, interrogatory answers, 1040X tax returns, clauses in partnership agreements, correspondence with IRS on disputed assessments. Researched and wrote memoranda on tax, evidence, administrative law, tort, estate/future interests issues. Used a dictaphone. Attended IRS administrative appeal.

Jd With Distinction, Law

Activities and Societies: Dean’s List, Spring 1999 - Spring 2001. Burtness Research Fellowship, Spring 2001. Highest grade in State.

B.A. Cum Laude, German, French

Activities and Societies: Fulbright Teaching Fellowship, Austrian-American Fulbright Commission, 1996-97. Max Kade Research Fellowship.