612.342.0031 lerner@gcl.com PRACTICE AREA Employment law Pro bono juvenile law

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PERSONAL PROFILE
Ms. Lerner joined the General Counsel, Ltd. in 1988, after ten years of legal practice, including six years as in-house counsel for major corporations.

Ms. Lerner has supported human resources and employee benefits departments for the firm's clients, advising them on sensitive policy and employment-decision matters and drafting a wide variety of personnel documents, including employment and separation agreements and employee handbooks. She also has handled investigations in harassment, civil rights and re-employment insurance proceedings, and has assisted with benefit plan administration issues.

Before joining The General Counsel, Ltd., Ms. Lerner was in-house employment law counsel for Control Data Corporation. Between 1981 and 1985, she served as in-house counsel at Land O'Lakes, Inc., where she handled employment matters in addition to labeling, advertising and marketing of food products under federal and state regulations. Prior to her corporate practice, she was an associate with the Minneapolis firm of Gainsley, Squire and Korsh and she served as law clerk to the Honorable James C. Otis, Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court (1978-79).

Ms. Lerner has been involved in various activities in the employment law field. As a frequent faculty member of the Upper Midwest Employment Law Institutes of the Minnesota State Bar Association, she has made presentations on workforce reductions, employee benefits litigation, employment terminations, and the Americans with Disabilities Act, affirmative action and sexual harassment issues.

A two-term member of the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board from 1981 - 1987, Ms. Lerner also served on the Board of Directors of the Corporate Counsel Association of Minnesota from 1984 to 1988, including two years as Vice President for Public Affairs. In 1990, she was appointed co-chair of the new State Bar Association Committee for Children, and she was active as a volunteer guardian ad litem in Ramsey County for twelve years. She is a founding member of the Board of the nonprofit Children's Law Center of Minnesota, organized in 1993 and dedicated to promoting the rights and interests of all children, especially those of color and with disabilities, in the judicial, child welfare, health care and education systems. Ms. Lerner was presented with the Minnesota State Bar Association 1994 President's Award with two other founding members for their work on this project.

EDUCATION
J.D., cum laude, Hamline University School of Law; M.A., Art History, University of Minnesota; B.A., History, Barnard College

BAR ADMISSIONS
Minnesota Supreme Court, 1978
Federal District Court, District of Minnesota, 1979

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
American Bar Association, Children's Law Committee
Minnesota State Bar Association, Children's Law Section
Ramsey County Bar Association
Minnesota Women Lawyers, Judicial Endorsements Committee

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE
ADC Telecommunications, Inc.
Bergquist Company
Nott Company

PROFESSIONAL HONORS
Distinguisned Alumni Award, Hamline University School of Law 25th Anniversary (2000); President's Award, Minnesota State Bar Association (1994)

COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
Family and Children's Service, Board of Directors
Children's Law Center of Minnesota, Board of Directors
Hamline University Board of Trustees (1995 - June 2003)
Friends of the St. Paul Public Library, Vice Chair for Programming

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