When Greg Groenjes, a manager in Manufacturing, Distribution & Engineering in Eagan, Minn., went out to see a 
movie with his wife one chilly evening in February, he anticipated that the only action scenes playing out would be on the screen. But by the night’s end, Greg was a real-life crime fighting hero.
After viewing a movie at a theatre in Inver Grove Heights, Minn., Greg and his wife came across a hammer-wielding man who was destroying car windshields in the theatre’s parking lot. Greg confronted the man and tried to get him to stop, and was shortly thereafter joined by two other movie theatre patrons.
Greg and the two other men surrounded the culprit until a police officer arrived at the scene. But instead of cooperating with the police officer, the assailant threw his hammer at him and began to charge.
The officer was able to tackle the man to the ground, but the assailant began grabbing at the officer’s equipment belt and face. The officer, now unable to subdue and handcuff the assailant on his own, called out for help. At his call Greg and the two other patrons rushed to the officer’s assistance.
“I knew the cop was in trouble so I just went for it and grabbed the assailant’s legs’” says Greg. “After the three of us had him pinned the officer was able to handcuff him and put him in the squad car.”
Greg and the other men who assisted were awarded a Certificate of Recognition from the city of Inver Grove Heights for their heroism and quick thinking. In the end, Greg admits that trying to stop the man wasn’t a hard decision.
“I didn’t even stop to think whether I should or shouldn’t help, it was instinctive,” says Greg. “Although this could have escalated to a much more dangerous situation, putting myself at risk, stopping the man and helping the officer was the right thing to do.”
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The following is a guest post from Super Lawyers contributor and freelance journalist Martin Kuz, detailing his experience as a fellow at the Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution.
Last month I had the good fortune to attend the Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution, a three-day fellowship program devoted to examining that hoary document’s sustained influence on every aspect of American life. Held in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center, a few blocks from where the founding fathers drafted the U.S. Constitution in 1787, the program brought together three dozen journalists from across the industry and around the world. Far from a passive, sit-and-listen experience, the weekend proved to be at once immersive and invigorating.
The Project provided us a chance to probe sundry constitutional issues with a distinguished roster of legal scholars, attorneys, judges and political figures, among them Michael Chertoff, former head of the Department of Homeland Security; former U.S. Senator Arlen Specter; Theodore McKee, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; Marjorie Rendell, McKee’s Third Circuit colleague and the former First Lady of Pennsylvania; and Carter Phillips, a Washington, D.C., attorney who has argued more than 70 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, the most of any private lawyer practicing today.
The program agenda included workshop sessions that examined recent or ongoing federal court cases rife with constitutional consequences; a moot court that delved into issues of Miranda rights and public safety; and panel discussions on U.S. Supreme Court nominations and new state immigration laws. A few highlights:
– Rendell led my workshop group, which included ABC News digital reporter Ariane de Vogue and Tony Bartelme, an investigative reporter with The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C. We discussed a case that involves a relatively new federal law that enables authorities to collect DNA samples from criminal suspects before they’re convicted, a law that has been challenged as a breach of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches. As it happens, Rendell and her Third Circuit cohorts heard the case on appeal in February. Their decision is expected in the coming months—and, no, she didn’t reveal which way she’s leaning.
– For the moot court, Phillips and Kannon Shanmugam, another D.C. attorney and familiar face to the Supreme Court, argued a case in front of nine faux Supremes, among them Rendell, Chertoff and McKee. Since we were in Philly, listening to the judges pummel both lawyers with questions brought to mind Rocky Balboa punching frozen meat carcasses. Better still, after they ruled in Phillips’s favor—as the real Supremes often do—the judges let us hit them with questions during an informal Q&A.
– During the Project’s gala dinner, I found myself seated near Phillips. I didn’t grill him like the faux Supremes had earlier in the day, asking instead for stories about the real Supreme justices. He obliged with a litany of anecdotes that were entertaining, enlightening—and, alas for you, off the record. But keep your fingers crossed—he says he might write a memoir one of these years.
Click here to listen to a recent podcast in which Kuz discusses pertinent constitutional issues.
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Photo of Paul Rosario courtesy of David Pexton
Truly inspiring stories are everywhere; you just need to look for them. But for Paul Rosario, a project manager in our Governance, Risk & Compliance group, sharing his inspirational life story with strangers on a fairly regular basis is a way for him to give back to the organization that changed his life – the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
His story begins at age 11, when Rosario was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. During a hospital stay, he was visited by a volunteer with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He asked for a vacation for his family of five to Cancun, Mexico, and the wish was granted several months later after he finished chemotherapy and was healthy enough to travel, but for those months in between, Rosario said the promise of the trip was a light at the end of the tunnel.
“The illness consumes you, and after awhile you forget there is hope and it is hard to focus on anything positive,” said Rosario. “After meeting with Make-A-Wish I was filled with excitement, knowing that I had a trip to look forward to. That wish changed my outlook and gave me the hope I was missing.”
Rosario attributes his survival to the Winthrop University Hospital Cancer Center for Kids. It was there that he beat the cancer, and came back years later as a volunteer speaker at one of the hospital’s fundraising events. There he told his inspiring, yet difficult story.
“When you start describing your experiences, it brings you back,” said Rosario. “Even when I was battling cancer, sharing that struggle was something I repressed and never spoke about. During that speech I was holding back tears, but I received an overwhelming response from the parents in the audience to keep doing what I was doing.”
It was this speech that triggered Rosario’s desire to give back to the foundation that gave him so much when he was young. When he contacted Make-A-Wish, they put him on a fast track to becoming a member of the Alumni Speakers Bureau and assigned him his first speech at the Wine & Wishes fundraiser in 2010 – the foundation’s largest event with an audience of more than 600 people – before ever hearing him speak. Since then Rosario has spoken at many events, but says that the pain that comes with speaking about his story still remains.
“Talking about it will never be easy, but repetition makes it easier. It will always hurt to relive that experience, but the message is so powerful that the impact outweighs any of the feelings. Knowing that sharing my story will create awareness of the power of a wish and ultimately bring in donations to keep granting more wishes makes it worth it.”
Check out the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s website to learn more.
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This guest post is from Karl Florida, president, FindLaw.
We’re excited to be at LegalTech as part of our Thomson Reuters Business of Law presence, to showcase how FindLaw helps power the comprehensive suite of Business of Law solutions that help law firms manage their practices.
Our FindLaw team has been showcasing our FirmSite Premium product line and findlaw.com for consumers and legal professionals. The team has also been meeting with some of the companies that advertise on findlaw.com.
There definitely has been a lot of great traffic to the Business of Law booth in general, and there is good energy at the show this year. It was great to get to know some of our Thomson Reuters colleagues better, meet prospective customers, and learn more about some of the trends capturing attendees’ interests this year, such as cloud computing and mobile. I’m already looking forward to next year’s show.
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I’m delighted to introduce our new managing editor of social media, Jessica Leibrock. Jessica is taking over the role formerly held by Kevin Hunt, who left to take a position with General Mills last December.
Jessica is no stranger to Thomson Reuters, Legal and joins us from the employee communications side where she supported a variety of internal projects and clients. Her professional background also includes experience in video production and public relations.
I’m really pleased that one of our own is able to step into this important role.
For those of you who will be at LegalTech New York next week, keep an eye out for Jessica who will be covering the show for Legal Current. You also can follow her coverage here on our blog or via Twitter @LegalCurrent.
John Shaughnessy
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Last spring, I was asked to join the Minnesota Science & Technology Advisory Commission – a collaborative group of leaders from industry, the investment community and higher education working with the Minnesota Science & Technology Authority to advance the growth and competitiveness of the state’s high-value science and technology industries.
The issues addressed in our work are important to me, and I am enjoying the experience of working with other technology and business leaders. Serving on this Commission has been a good complement to my work as the Chief Technology Officer for the Professional division of Thomson Reuters.
Over the last six months, the Commission worked to develop a strategic plan for helping Minnesota create up to 45,000 high-paying science and technology jobs, and another 100,000 indirect jobs, all in the next 10 years. The report was released yesterday.
Check out this video interview I participated in with our Minnesota Fox affiliate.
You can read the full report, along with an executive summary, on the Minnesota Science & Technology Authority website.
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Dave Whiteside, an account executive at Hubbard One, went above and beyond the usual call of volunteerism by accompanying a group of surgeons as an operating room assistant in a remote part of Haiti called Font-des-Blancs. Together, the team performed life-saving obstetric and gynecologic surgeries on local women.
Whiteside, fly swatter in hand, was tasked with keeping the operating room as hygienic as possible in the sparse conditions, and attempted to keep mosquitoes and flies away from the patients.
The hospital itself is perched in a mountainous area of western Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, and is located about five hours from the capital of Port-au-Prince. It is the only existing infrastructure standing in this rural region and is a lifeline for Haitians from miles around who walk for days in order to receive treatment there.
Whiteside told the story of a 25-year-old woman with a 12-pound fibroid tumor who had walked two days to come to the hospital and have it surgically removed by the team of three surgeons. After undergoing major surgery with only a local anesthetic, she rested for two days at the hospital under the care of her mother before embarking on her journey back home on foot with 60 stitches in her abdomen.
“In the U.S. tumors would be removed when they are the size of a peanut,” said Whiteside. “We saw women carrying tumors in excess of 13 pounds. Beyond the pain these women endure, very often these genetic conditions rob them of the opportunity of ever becoming a parent. In Haiti, a woman’s role is to be a mother; women who aren’t able to bare children are unwanted and ostracized. Thanks to the surgeries, we were able to restore this dream of parenthood to many young women and truly change their lives.”
The team performed 19 operations in four days and worked relentlessly from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. everyday to save the lives and relieve the intense suffering of the courageous local women.
“It was a truly humbling experience,” Whiteside said. “People in Haiti lead very hard lives, with none of the comforts that we are used to in the U.S. Many have no electricity, no drinking water, no transportation and of course no air conditioning; yet they are joyful and positive and so grateful for the help we were able to provide.”
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It’s with mixed emotion – sad for us, but happy for Kevin and the opportunity before him – that we say goodbye to our friend and managing editor of Social Media. He’s taken a position with General Mills as manager of their corporate social media team, starting this week, and I can only imagine he’s already off to a great start.
Kevin will now be associated with a major consumer brand and that should be interesting and fun. On our side, we will miss his wise counsel, entrepreneurship, and his devotion to serving his two clients – the business and the bloggers/media who write for and about the legal space.
Before he left, I sat down with Kevin and we reminisced about what he built here and chatted about what he’s going to miss and what he’s looking forward to with the role in front of him.
The legal bloggers, media and other readers who followed Legal Current were very important to Kevin – you should all know that he held you in the highest regard, and valued your feedback. I would add that Kevin’s was an important voice for us as we learned to navigate the social media landscape. I hope you can find a couple minutes to view his final interview on Legal Current.
John Shaughnessy
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Senior financial analyst by day, Navy Commander by night.
Well actually, that is often his day job too…
In honor of Veterans Day in the United States, and to kick-off our new feature called “Legal People” – highlighting employees throughout Thomson Reuters, Legal – we’d like to introduce you to Austin Santiago.
Austin joined the company as a senior financial analyst in 2005 and along with his career at Thomson Reuters in Minnesota, he also is a Commander in the U.S. Navy Supply Corps.
We sat down with Austin to learn a bit more about his Navy career and what Veterans Day means to him and his family.
How long have you been with the Navy?
I started in June 1984 as a Boatswain mate, which means I was a deck hand with primary duties of maintaining the ships outer appearance and skilled at dropping the hook (anchor) at sea, getting the ship ready to travel and rigging fuel lines for underway replenishment (a very dangerous operation).
The most important job I had was the ship’s master helmsman (ship driver). I drove the ship in and out of ports, during mine hunting operations in the Persian Gulf and other precision maneuvering exercises. I am fortunate to have natural sea legs, which means I have yet to get sea sick in 26 years and I’ve seen some serious ships swaying side to side and back and forth out on the ocean.
After 4 years I left full-time service and joined the Navy Reserves. After finishing my degree in finance I became a Supply Officer. My main expertise is procurement, contracting, budgeting, and logistics. Drawing on a lot of the same skill sets that I use for my work here at Thomson Reuters.
Can you tell us about your deployments?
As a reservist I have completed two tours with the Army. My first was after 9-11 and I was sent to Guantanamo Bay Cuba for 8 months as the Operations Officer for Detainee Operations.
The second tour was in Baghdad, Iraq from May 2009 to May 2010. There I served as the Budget Officer responsible for managing a $4 billion dollar budget supporting all military personnel in country.
What’s it been like balancing both your military career and civilian career?
It’s definitely been a balancing act. The most important thing is to keep each in perspective. Family and family support is my top priority. It’s great, though, that my civilian and Navy occupations use the same core skills, so I think both Thomson Reuters and the Navy benefit. I want to express sincere appreciation to the Navy and Thomson Reuters for being very supportive and understanding.
As a veteran, what does Veteran’s Day mean to you?
Veterans Day is a very important day to me and my family. It’s a time to honor those who have made sacrifices so we can enjoy the freedoms we have today. I am very proud and honored to have served with the Navy. This is my family’s way of giving back to our country.
What is one thing that you’d like people to remember today, on Veterans Day?
Freedom is not free. And to non military families, thank you for all the support for our men and women in uniform.
Anything that you’d like to say to other veterans in Thomson Reuters and at other companies?
From one veteran to all, I salute you! I would like to say thank you to all the veterans past, present, future that serve our country. Go Navy!
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Winning a talent competition is no small accomplishment, especially when you’re potentially up against more than 7,000 people.
On October 1, Ryan Luse, a business process analyst for Thomson Reuters, Legal, stepped up to that challenge in our annual employee talent competition at our headquarters in Eagan, Minn.
He definitely put his own spin on what could have been just a typical guitar act.
Luse told us he drew his inspiration for an original song, appropriately, from his work. But he said that inspiration didn’t hit him until the night before the competition. That’s when he decided he would wow the employee crowd with a song they could relate to.
He spent about two hours writing “Rock You Reuters”
After practicing the morning of the competition the song was still rather new to Luse, so he opted to bring the lyrics and music on stage with him. But that didn’t seem to hold back his performance and he was voted the winner by an employee vote, online.
You can watch a video of part of Luse’s song, on our YouTube Channel.
Luse has participated in all three of our talent competitions in Eagan. In the first year, he took third place with another original song.
His win this month earned $5,000 for his chosen charity, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. (more…)
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What’s in a word? The Black’s Law Dictionary, 9th edition from Thomson Reuters can provide both definition and pronunciation through a new Android App. When the word of the day isn’t a word you know, Black’s mobile applications is ready to find that content on your Android.
Black’s is available as an Android App and also [...]
Pangea3 CEO David Perla was a member on the panel for Legal Process Outsourcing 2.0 at the ACC Annual Conference in Denver recently.
With the rapid growth surrounding LPOs in the legal industry, the panel addressed numerous topics and issues ranging from: how each company addresses the relationship with the LPO differently to the best way [...]
We’ve got a great podcast this month to kick-off the New Year featuring an interview segment with attorney Yar Chaikovsky about monetizing patents and the forthcoming impacts of patent reform.
Then in our “On the Blawgs” segment we learn about one blogger’s top five social media tips for businesses.
In our “Chaos in the Courts” segment, we [...]
