News & Updates

Greene Espel is pleased to announce that attorneys Mark Johnson and Aaron Knoll as well as retired founder Cliff Greene have been recognized by Minnesota Lawyer as 2022 Attorneys of the Year. An outside panel of judges selected honorees based on the following criteria: leadership in the profession, achieving a successful result for a client, excellence in corporate or transactional services, and public service.

Mark and Aaron will be recognized for their successful representation of client Newsert in a federal jury trial before Judge Eric Tostrud. In July, a Minnesota federal jury returned a verdict for Newsert LLC, in Reach Companies, LLC v. Newsert LLC. Mark and Aaron distilled 19 separate contract claims into a single, cohesive story. The jury rejected all of the claims against Greene Espel’s client and awarded our client almost $1.2 million on its counterclaim. Post-trial, Newsert won the right to assert fraudulent-transfer claims against its adversary and to freeze funds the company had transferred to a related entity mid-trial. [Read the full story.]

Cliff will be recognized in the category of "Outstanding Service to the Profession." Cliff retired from Greene Espel in October 2020 after co-founding the firm in 1993 with the aim of creating a practice where every attorney has a seat at the table. He advocated tirelessly for clients of all types and sizes in the private and public sectors. Large corporations routinely engaged Cliff to try high-profile cases in the areas of employment, securities, and products liability law. And local governments reached out to Cliff for help in litigation where significant precedent or public-policy questions were at stake. Active in civic affairs as well as the legal community, Cliff received the 2013 Sidney Barrows Lifetime Commitment Award from the Minnesota Cardozo Society, given annually to an attorney or judge who exemplifies excellence in his/her practice, community service, and lifelong learning. We are proud to carry the founders' vision forward as a collaborative, collegial firm that achieves extraordinary results for our clients and invests in our community.

To view the full list of honorees, visit: "Minnesota Lawyer announces Attorneys of the Year."