Loken, James B.

English

Mitchell Hamline School of Law

William Mitchell Law ReviewVolume 21 | Issue 2 Article 41995Memorial for Chief Judge Anne SimonettJames B. LokenFollow this and additional works at: http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlrThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviewsand Journals at Mitchell Hamline Open Access. It has been accepted forinclusion in William Mitchell Law Review by an authorized administratorof Mitchell Hamline Open Access. For more information, please contactsean.felhofer@mitchellhamline.edu.© Mitchell Hamline School of LawRecommended CitationLoken, James B. (1995) "Memorial for Chief Judge Anne Simonett," William Mitchell Law Review: Vol. 21: Iss. 2, Article 4.Available at: http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol21/iss2/4Honorable James B. LokentI came to know Anne Simonett in the fall of 1981 when shejoined Faegre & Benson fresh out of Harvard Law School.Shortly after she arrived, I was asked to go to Chicago on shortnotice for a brief trial, and I asked Anne to come along andhelp. Some of our client's employees had quit and wereattempting to lure customers to their new employer despite thefact that they had promised not to do that in their employmentcontracts. We were asking the Court to enforce those promis-es-a difficult and emotional kind of business dispute. Iremember I was amazed at how much Anne contributed; howfast she figured out what it took to get that difficult job done.I don't remember the specific tasks she performed. What I doremember is that she had this wonderful, innate understandingof people and human relationships, an empathy that gave herjudgment and common sense. Those are qualities that makeone capable of doing almost anything well, and I knew then shewould be a great lawyer. Because while we study long and hardto learn the law, the practice of law is about solving humanproblems, so the great lawyers all have those qualities of goodjudgment, common sense, and what we loosely refer to aspeople skills.After a few years which she spent in Washington and atWilliam Mitchell, to my delight Anne rejoined Faegre & Benson,and we spent a few more years together in the practice of law.Her skills had matured by this time, and we were virtuallyequals. She was one of those people that I sought out wheneversomething was sticky and I needed a second opinion. That kindof consulting process produces some of the most rewardingrelationships that one has in the practice of law. Anne alwaysprovided the sort of valued second opinion that I knew wouldbe the product, again, of good judgment, common sense, andan understanding of people. Those are also qualities that areessential in the making of a wise and fair judge. So when Ibecame a federal judge in 1991 and learned soon after thatt Judge, U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.1Loken: Memorial for Chief Judge Anne SimonettPublished by Mitchell Hamline Open Access, 2014WLLIAM M/TCJFIL LAW RE VEWGovernor Carlson was considering appointing Anne to theHennepin County bench, I encouraged her to seek the position.I was overjoyed when she was appointed because I knew what agreat judge she would be and did in fact become.I have two other lasting memories of Anne that I would liketo share with you. One, I suppose, just the two of us recall. Wewere in New York visiting a client a few years back. The workday was done, and we were in a large office or hotel complexreturning to dinner. We rode an escalator up to a darkenedmezzanine area, and there off in the corner was a grand piano.I urged Anne to play the piano because I knew about her priormusical career but had never heard her play. She resisted, butI persisted, and she relented and went to the piano and beganto play. From across the passageway scurried a security personthat I hadn't noticed, obviously intent on shooing us away. Butas he approached the piano he stopped and backed off withoutsaying anything. He had the common sense and good judgmentto realize that anyone who could play that beautifully wouldneither harm the instrument nor offend anyone who happenedto be passing by. What I took away from that episode is thethought that those of you who shared Anne's music with her formany years were indeed fortunate.Finally, I remember the speech that Anne gave at herinvestiture as Chief Judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals.It was a fine speech. But what I remember most was theenthusiasm and joy with which she gave it. It was obvious to methat she was excited and delighted to be taking on the greatresponsibility of serving as our ChiefJudge. Unfortunately, shedidn't get to complete that task, and we're all poorer for the lossof her talent. But I am also grateful because for the last thirteenyears of my professional life I have been enriched by havingAnne Simonett as a colleague and a friend. You know, it isawfully easy to get down on lawyers and the legal professionbecause the problems are so hard and we humans are so fallible.And so in the years to come I hope that every time I getirritated with lawyers for the way they're presenting a case, orangry at the direction the law seems to be taking, I'll rememberthat a profession that attracts people like Anne Simonett, whoare willing to commit their professional lives to its betterment,is truly a great profession guiding a great legal system.Thank you Anne for being my friend.[Vol. 212William Mitchell Law Review, Vol. 21, Iss. 2 [2014], Art. 4http://open.mitchellhamline.edu/wmlr/vol21/iss2/4

Memorial for Chief Judge Anne Simonett

https://open.mitchellhamline.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2157&amp;context=wmlr

Memorial for Chief Judge Anne Simonett

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Mitchell Hamline School of Law