Two Blackwell Burke P.A. attorneys were named 2020 Attorneys of the Year by Minnesota Lawyer magazine.  For the second year in a row, Blackwell Burke Founder and CEO Jerry W. Blackwell and Partner Corey L. Gordon were Circle of Excellence honorees and were featured on the magazine cover for their pro bono work on the posthumous pardon of Max Mason, a black man who was wrongly convicted of raping a white woman in 1920. This was the first ever posthumous pardon in the state of Minnesota.

Blackwell and Gordon were recognized among a group of 33 honorees who addressed many important issues including work on the pandemic, Minnesota elections, racial inequalities, establishing precedent for peacetime emergency and more. Each year, Minnesota Lawyer recognizes attorneys who show leadership in the profession, involvement in major cases, excellence in corporate or transaction services and public service. Nominations for this recognition come from judges, bar groups, clients and other attorneys. Blackwell and Gordon were honored at a virtual awards event on February 17, 2021.

The team from Blackwell Burke included Blackwell, Gordon, Benjamin W. Hulse, Charmaine Harris, Ted Hartman, Gene Hummel and  Tony Atwal.

Read the full Minnesota Lawyer article about the Max Mason pardon.

About Jerry W. Blackwell

Jerry Blackwell

Jerry W. Blackwell serves as national and trial counsel for several major corporations and has litigated in federal and state courts in 47 states and internationally. He is an experienced trial lawyer with nationwide experience defending class actions, toxic tort, commercial disputes, products liability, and other high stakes complex cases. Mr. Blackwell has numerous winning jury verdicts and favorable settlements to his credit. He is a frequent presenter on winning trial strategies and how to effectively communicate complicated legal, scientific, and business issues to jurors.

About Corey L. Gordon

Corey L. Gordon is an experienced trial lawyer whose practice includes products liability defense, class action defense, toxic and environmental torts litigation, commercial litigation, appeals and other complex litigation. Mr. Gordon is a frequent speaker at national CLE programs. His recent presentations have addressed class action defense, food flavorings litigation, junk science and successful approaches to Daubert motions and jury trials.

About Blackwell Burke P.A.

Blackwell Burke is a certified minority-owned trial firm that represents corporate clients in decisive class actions, mass torts, MDLs and commercial litigation, both at trial and on appeal. The firm has been repeatedly recognized as one of the top litigation defense firms in the country by BTI, Chambers, Best Lawyers and others. Benchmark Litigation named Blackwell Burke the Minnesota Firm of the Year in each of the last three years.