Michael Vanselow -- high-powered Medtronic litigation counsel and former Minnesota Deputy Attorney General -- to Rejoin Oppenheimer in its Complex Healthcare
Litigation Practice

Media Contact: Jennifer Smith, 612.607.7204

MINNEAPOLIS, MN (February 9, 2009) — One of Minnesota’s leading attorneys attorneys is leaving Medtronic, Inc., where he served as Principal Litigation Counsel from May 2007, and returning to Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly to join its complex Healthcare Litigation Practice. Michael Vanselow, who also served 16 years litigating some of the state’s highest profile cases as an Assistant and Deputy Attorney General in the state’s Attorney General’s Office, will leave the world’s largest medical device manufacturer to join the Oppenheimer law firm where he first worked from 1983-1991. His official start date is February 9, 2009.

Vanselow’s work at Medtronic saw him managing some of the company’s complex, high-profile, mass tort product liability litigation as well as other employment and insurance litigation. He also managed the company’s response to large government health law investigations. However, the well-known attorney is perhaps even more renowned for his legal prowess in some of the most newsworthy cases for the State of Minnesota. A sampling of some of those high profile cases where Vanselow acted as lead attorney in the AG’s Civil Litigation and Consumer Divisions include the following:

• Minneapolis Branch of the NAACP v. State of Minnesota and Independent School District No. 621 v. State of Minnesota -- successful five-year defense of constitutional challenges regarding the adequacy of the education provided to students in the Minneapolis and St. Paul School Districts
• State of Minnesota v. SmithKline Beecham Corp. -- antitrust suit against pharmaceutical company regarding company conspiracy to block Canadian prescription drug imports
• Philip Morris, Inc. v. State of Minnesota -- defense of multi-billion dollar challenge to State Health Impact Fee on tobacco sales
• Sviggum v. Ingison -- defense of constitutional challenge to government shutdown emergency funding
• State of Minnesota v. Pharmacia Corporation -- suit against large pharmaceutical company alleging fraudulent drug pricing practices
• Kennedy v. Carlson -- defense of public defender’s suit seeking additional funding because of alleged violation of indigent defendants’ right to effective assistance of counsel

Vanselow also litigated many of the state’s other highest-profile and complex constitutional and consumer matters while at the AGO.

“I am excited to return to a direct litigation practice at Oppenheimer,” says Vanselow. “I get to work again with many of my very talented colleagues from my prior practice at the firm, and to use my past private, government, and most recent in-house corporate healthcare litigation experience to help expand the firm’s impressive healthcare litigation practice.”

“With the regulatory climate expected to change dramatically during the new Obama administration, we will have a champion litigator in place to address potential complex healthcare and other issues that may challenge medical and healthcare institutions and other industries at large,” notes Oppenheimer Chair Dave Potter. “It is always particularly gratifying when our best and brightest return to Oppenheimer.”

Vanselow was recruited in 1982 by the firm when he was in Law School and President of the Minnesota Law Review, and eventually wooed away from Oppenheimer to the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office in 1991 by another OWD alumni, Jack Tunheim. “Mike’s long career there covered substantial territory but the common thread was that he was consistently the ‘go-to’ guy to handle the AG Office’s highest profile cases,” Potter adds. “As Principal Litigation Counsel at Medtronic, he recently began exploring a return to private practice because of his desire to return to a direct litigation practice and because of significant business development opportunities in the areas of healthcare litigation and government investigations. We are thrilled that Mike chose to return home to do that -- not just because of the opportunities he brings -- but because he is clearly a marquee litigation talent.”

About Michael Vanselow 

Among Vanselow’s many legal achievements are also his contributions to the legal profession and the community. He has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Minnesota Law School for the last 19 years coaching the school’s highly successful student teams in the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition Program. Vanselow has also served as an Adjunct Professor at William Mitchell College of Law teaching a Pretrial Litigation course and serving as an Instructor for a Lawyering Skills course. He also has served as a faculty member on legal education programs for the following organizations:

• Minnesota Continuing Legal Education
• Minnesota Institute of Legal Education
• Minnesota Judicial College
• Minnesota Attorney General’s Office
• National Association of Attorneys General

Vanselow has also co-authored two books regarding appellate and deposition litigation practice.

Vanselow’s Court Admissions include:

• Supreme Court of the United States
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
• U.S. Court for the District of Minnesota
• Minnesota Supreme Court

Some of his civic activities have included serving as a:

• licensed Anoka County foster parent providing respite care for handicapped children
• advisory board member to the Hamline Health Law Institute
• Centennial School District parent volunteer and Talented and Gifted Program task force member
• Chain of Lakes Little League Manager

He has been honored as a Minnesota “Super Lawyer” by Minnesota Law & Politics from 2001 through 2007.

Oppenheimer is a 122-year old, Minneapolis-based law firm. It’s a recognized leader in providing practical legal counsel to businesses of all sizes—from start-ups to Fortune 500 corporations. The firm’s core practices include business litigation, financial services, medical technology, mergers & acquisitions, real estate finance, and securities, with specialty practices in health care litigation, employee benefits, intellectual property and labor & employment.