Too often, we only know our colleagues within the context of their legal practice or career. But, by looking a little further, we quickly learn that MWL members lead very fascinating lives outside of the law. MWL recently requested that its members forward descriptions of their personal pursuits, not only to surprise us, but also to inspire us!!

MWL invites its membership to continue to submit profile of their personal pursuits. Additional submissions will be featured in upcoming issues of With Equal Right throughout the coming year. Send your submission to MWL at dpexa@mwlawyers.org. Feel free to submit a suggestion on behalf of a friend or colleague in the law who may be too modest to submit on their own. (We'll just need permission before we can print).

Outside of my "life as a lawyer," I am business partners with my husband and own a custom furniture business called Woodlines. We have a showroom and shop where the furniture is made. This would be much more interesting if I actually constructed furniture, but I work purely on the marketing, financial, and strategic planning of the business. We will celebrate our 5th year in business at the end of July.

I have been fortunate enough to experience a fair amount of travel. My mother is from Ecuador, so I have been there 5 times. I was an exchange student in Israel as a high school student. I studied in Russia in college. Since then, I have traveled with my husband to Thailand (including a 3-day trek on foot through the hill tribes near Burma), Vietnam, Spain, France, and Scotland. I also visited Denmark last year. My sister and brother-in-law (who are both dentists) are in the process of planning a mission trip to South America for next summer and we are looking forward to helping them with that. I guess it's fair to say, I love international travel:-)

I am a quilter. I enjoy making "lap" size quilts for friends and relatives. I am currently making lap quilts for all of my co-workers in the Medicaid Fraud Unit of the Attorney General's office. I have given quilts to five co-workers, have three in production and another five to make. Hopefully, they will be done before August 15, 2005. At that time my husband and I are leaving for a one year assignment as a missionary teachers in Slovakia.

I lead Girl Scout Troop 123. Because I am not a mother, I have been told it is out of the ordinary.

I make glass beads and jewelry. This is how I keep from losing my mind doing family law. See my web site www.flashglass.biz or drop by my studio.

This winter I skied my fourth American Birkebeiner cross country ski race. It is a 52 km (32 mile) race from Cable to Hayward, Wisconsin that attracts more than 6000 skiers each year. I also coach in the City of Lakes Loppet cross country training program, which is designed for people who want to do their first ski marathon.

In January 2004 I traveled to Tanzania with a church group. We had the opportunity to visit Tumaini University, the first private college in Tanzania. Law is one of their largest programs and I helped an American professor who was working on starting a law review; because Tanzania is so small, there is almost no written material for law students to use. One of the most "small world" experiences from the trip was walking through their library and seeing so many books from West Publishing written by professors I had had at the U of M Law School.

I also like to bike. I have ridden the MS150. Last summer my sister and I did a 4-day trip across most of Wisconsin and a 5-day trip along the Danube River in Austria.

I edited "books" for my son's second grade class between 7:30-8:30 a.m. a couple mornings a month. I garden. I take walks. I read mysteries. I play a lot of Scrabble and card games with my children. I read books to my children almost every night. I travel as much as possible, with my family. I draw and paint and take black and white photographs when I can. I listen to the rain.

I am a national caliber powerlifter. Powerlifting is comprised of three events: the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift. I have competed both on the national and international level. My best lifts in competition are 265 pounds on the squat, 182 pounds on the bench press, and 275 pounds on the deadlift. I am the 2004 USA Powerlifting National Bench Press Champion in the 105-pound weight class. After winning USA Powerlifting's Bench Press Nationals, I went on to compete at the International Powerlifting Federation's Bench Press Worlds last December. I am currently preparing for a local meet, the Twin Cities Open, which will be held on August 13, 2005.

I have been a “Big Sister” with the Big Brothers Big Sister (BBBS) Program for nearly 4 years. My “Little Sister” is Chrishonda Richardson, an 8^th Grader, with whom I have been paired for almost 4 years. This spotlight may be a good way to get some “publicity” for the BBBS program, as they are always looking for more “Bigs” to volunteer. It is an excellent program for both the children AND the adult volunteers.

As an American Marshall Memorial Fellow this past October, 2004, I was given the opportunity to become something like an instant diplomat, traveling to five European countries in four weeks to meet with politicians, journalists, state and local officials, academics, and non-governmental agency staff. I am now conversant in the alphabet soup of international multi-lateral institutions as well as an afficiando of local French cheese and sausage. The fellowship is a program of the German Marshall Fund, which was created from a thank-you gift of the German government to the U.S. after WWII, and its ultimate purpose is transatlantic cooperation. Since October, I returned to Europe in March to attend a summit on the European Union, attended mostly by Europeans involved in European (rather than national) affairs. The fellowship opened my eyes to the world. We will return as a family (I have 3 school age kids) next February.

There have not been enough applicants in some years, and often there are not many women who apply (must be between 28 and 40). The German Marshall Fund accepts up to four applicants from Minnesota each year. The fellowship is both free and personally and professionally transformative. Further information is available at www.gmfus.org. Also, feel free to contact me if you are considering applying. As a former fellow I am charged with spreading the word about both transatlantic affairs and GMF.

I create homemade, organic, non-animal product soaps. I use them as gifts for family, friends, clients and I must say I usually get requests for more! I do this in my kitchen with my normal kitchen blender.

I have become quite an avid fly fisher. I fish for trout in small MN and WI streams for the most part but have traveled to Idaho, Montana, Seattle to experience other types of trout that we do not have around our parts! I eat some and catch and release some. I mostly use a dry fly but nymph as well. It is relaxing, beautiful and spiritual all at the same time. Unless the wild turkeys are around – then one needs to fend for themselves and this often involves running!

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Although most of you know Lisa Brabbit as a successful litigator, community leader and now Assistant Dean of the University of St. Thomas Law School, what you may not know is that Lisa is a Master Gardener. Lisa's own gardens and home landscape is so breathtaking and beautiful that people stop at her home while driving by just to admire her creations. Most assume an expensive landscape design/garden company did the work -- but it is Lisa. She is the neighborhood green thumb and guru on just about anything having to do with plants, trees, flowers -- you name it, she knows it. She has designed and planted many gardens (including my perennial garden!) and loves to offer her expertise for others.

Barbara J. Klas
Wells Fargo Private Client Services

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When I'm not judging, I paint (oil painting) and sing (weddings and karaoke), among other things like traveling, gardening, walking the dog, riding bicycle, reading, and playing the piano.

My interests are quite conventional. I enjoy quilting, knitting, counted cross stitching and crocheting. I give most of my "creations" away as gifts. I especially like to make something when I know it is going to be a gift so I can think about the recipient as I am making the item. I also like to enter my handiwork in the local County Fair. It is rewarding to see my work displayed with a ribbon and it supports this community event.

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Traveling to see new places, culture and history is one of my passions. In 1994, I went to China for three weeks as a Student Ambassador with People to People International which promotes peace, understanding and cultural exchange through person to person interaction, and I have been a member since and now participate in local adult activities while hoping to take part in adult missions sometime in the future. Although I started out trying to see the 7 wonders, there are the natural, ancient and modern wonders so which are THE wonders to see -- All of them of course. Unfortunately, I have lost track of the list, but at this point, I only have 3 out of 7 continents left to visit and that does include still needing to go to Antarctica. "There is nothing to fear but fear itself" FDR

Heather Kight
Attorney at Law

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I enjoy ballroom dancing, Waltz, Swing, Tango, Cha-Cha, Rumba, Fox-Trot and more, over at the Dancer's Studio in St. Paul. I've been taking private and group lessons for almost two years.

I took a brief sabbatical and backpacked through China, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand for two months. My Asian cooking skills have improved dramatically as a result of cooking classes in several countries.

Elizabeth Wefel
Attorney at Law

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Excerpt from Leonard, Street and Deinard’s in-house newsletter

Every Saturday from Thanksgiving through the end of February, Susan Robiner is boarding a bus with thirty to fifty 6- to 16-year-olds, heading off for a day of skiing at one of the area’s ski slopes. Susan teaches skiing for Blizzard Ski and Snowboard School, a roving ski school that has been around since the early 1960s. She is a second-generation ski instructor for Blizzard, as her father took her and her five siblings on the same ski trips when they were growing up. Now Susan is passing on the tradition by teaching for Blizzard and bringing her three children along.

Susan says, “It’s a bit like Little League coaching, without the parents on the sidelines. … The day starts in the dark hours of the morning and does not end until the dark hours of the evening. And then there are those deals on ski equipment!” As a Level 3 certified instructor (the highest certification level in the Professional Ski Instructors Association), she spends a lot of time in clinics with incredible skiers. For more information on Blizzard, see their website at http://blizzard.tc.

Susan Robiner
Leonard Street and Deinard

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I take ballet class 6-7 days per week, including pointe class. At my age, there aren't many roles open to me but then again, there is usually an aged and evil fairy in ballets like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, so you never know when I may appear on stage (although I hope I wouldn't be recognizable!)

Mary Vasaly
Maslon Edelman Borman & Brand

Excerpt from Leonard, Street and Deinard’s in-house newsletter

Send mail to webmaster@mwlawyers.org with questions or comments about this web site. Copyright © 2001 Minnesota Women Lawyers, Inc.

Send mail to webmaster@mwlawyers.org with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2001 Minnesota Women Lawyers, Inc.