What are we doing here?

Minnesota Appellate Court Watch is an independent blog/newsletter following Minnesota's appellate dockets. MACW seeks to cover notable or interesting cases as well as appellate trends and practice.

The mission of Minnesota Appellate Court Watch is to (1) provide a useful resource to legal practitioners, (2) demystify the workings of our legal system and make the cases which shape our laws and society more accessible to non-lawyers, and (3) have fun with the quirks and side-alleys of the legal profession.

Nothing published by MACW creates an attorney-client relationship between anyone and MACW. Everything MACW publishes is intended for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. If you have a legal question or issue, you should seek your own counsel. Resources: Public defenders by county, Minnesota State Law Libarary's index of free legal assistance referrals by county, Minnesota State Bar Association's "Find a Lawyer" tool for private representation.

Who are you?

MACW is a project of Daniel Suitor, a Minnesota-barred attorney. I started my career as a tenant's rights attorney with HOME Line, then worked for a plaintiff-side firm on employment class action cases. I am currently unemployed and being super normal about it.

How are you qualified to do this and why should I listen to you?

I'm not really, and you don't have to, but no one else is doing this for free. I'm not an expert on every single area of law and won't pretend to be. That's why I'm keeping this project within some narrow guardrails, to not get out over my skis.

What are you actually going to do?

First, write about notable decisions and filing. I've been doing this for years on social media, but it'd be nice for those thoughts to have a more pemanent home. Second, track appellate trends to think about developments in law and what conversation the appellate courts are having with the lower courts, legislature, and society.

The goal is twice-weekly birds-eye newsletters covering the opinion releases of the Minnesota Court of Appeals and Minnesota Supreme Court. Ideally, I would like to do case summaries here and there if there's a decision I can offer at least some insight into.

Resources

The Minnesota Court of Appeals publishes opinions on its website every Monday at 10:00 a.m.

The Minnesota Supreme Court publishes opinions on its website every Wednesday at 10:00 a.m.

The Minnesota State Law Library maintains a searchable archive of appellate decisionss.

If there is a court holiday, opinions will generally be published on the next working day.

Appellate filings, including briefs and opinions, are available on P-MACS.