Minnesota Attorney General Appoints Special Assistant Attorney Generals for George Floyd Cases     

On July 13, Minnesota  Attorney General appointed four pro bono Special Assistant Attorney Generals. His statement said, “Out of respect for Judge Cahill’s gag order, I will say simply that I’ve put together an exceptional team with experience and expertise across many disciplines.” They are Neal Katyal, Lola Velázquez-Aguilu, Jerry Blackwell and Steven L. Schleicher.[1]

Neal Katyal is a partner in the law firm of Hogan Lovells, an U.S.-British law firm headquartered in  Washington, D.C. and London with around 2,800 lawyers in more than 40 offices in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.  There he specializes in appellate and complex litigation. He also is the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center. In the Obama Administration he was Principal Deputy Solicitor General and Acting Solicitor General of the United States (2009-11), which is the office responsible for representing the U.S. before the U.S. Supreme Court. He has degrees from Dartmouth College and Yale Law School and clerked for Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and then Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. Katyal also frequently appears as a commentator on legal and political issues on MSNBC.[2]

Lola Velázquez-Aguilu is a litigation and investigation attorney at Medtronic Corporation and Chair of the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection. She also is a former Assistant United States Attorney in Minnesota for nearly nine years, where  she worked in the white-collar and public corruption section of the criminal division and before that an associate attorney at the Minneapolis office of the Dorsey and Whitney law firm, where she represented civil litigants and criminal defendants. She also clerked for retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan C. Page and U.S. District Court Judge Ann D. Montgomery. She has served in various organizations such as the Infinity Project, Minnesota Federal Bar Association, Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association. Her B.A. and J.D. degrees are from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.[3]

Jerry Blackwell is the founding partner, CEO and chairman of the Minneapolis law firm of Blackwell Burke P.A. He is an experienced trial lawyer in federal and states courts in 47 states and other countries. He also is the founder of the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers. His B.S. and J.D. degrees are from the University of North Carolina. Earlier this year he won the state’s first posthumous pardon for Max Mason, a Black man wrongly convicted of rape 100 years ago in Duluth. [4]

Steven L. Schleicher is a partner at the Minneapolis law firm of  Maslon and the co-Chair of its Government & Internal Investigations Group. He is an experienced trial and appellate lawyer concentrating on criminal defense, government and internal investigations and high stakes civil litigation. Previously he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney and Assistant Minnesota Attorney General, an attorney in the Winona County Attorney’s Office and a JAG Corps Officer in the U.S. Army Reserve. His B.A. degree, cum laude is from the University of Minnesota, Duluth and his J.D. degree, cum laude, from William Mitchell College of Law. Schleicher led the successful prosecution of Jacob Wetterling’s kidnapper and killer.[5]

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[1] Xiong, Attorneys for ex-Minneapolis officers object to judge’s gag order in George Floyd death, StarTribune (July 13, 2020); Minnesota Attorney General, Seasoned attorneys join AG Ellison’s team pro bono in George Floyd case (July 13, 2020).

[2] Neal Katyal, Wikipedia; Neal Katyal, Hogan Lovells; Neal K. Katyal, Georgetown University Law Center, Hogan Lovells;  Hogan Lovells, Wikipedia.

[3] Lola Velázquez-Aguilu, Linkedin, Lola Velázquez-Aguilu, Members of the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection.

[4] Jerry W. Blackwell, Blackwell Burke P.A. 

[5] Steven L. Schleicher, Maslon.