Judicial opinions with weight, wit

In 1968, Jim Rosenbaum was dubbed "the word merchant" by moderate Republican soulmate Paul Anderson as the two law-school students campaigned on behalf of Nelson Rockefeller's unsuccessful run for president.

"He was a good writer, and he was fast," recalled Anderson, who today is a member of the Minnesota Supreme Court. "He's always been very facile with language."

Lawyers who appear before now-Chief Judge James Rosenbaum in federal court in Minneapolis would agree. His courtroom observations and legal opinions are adroit and highly quotable. His writings include references to popular culture and words that even lawyers must look up in a dictionary.

Rosenbaum's courtroom exchanges can be commanding, demanding, withering and self-effacing all in the same hearing.

One lawyer, a 23-year member of the federal bench, recently responded to a Rosenbaum inquiry by saying, "That is an excellent question."

"Mr. Reporter, did you get that down?" Rosenbaum quipped.

In an opinion last year, Rosenbaum likened the backdating of stock options to the movie "The Sting." He wrote: "It is a poker axiom that if a player has his knees under the table and cannot tell who the sucker is, he's it."

Rosenbaum's seven-year tenure as chief judge of the Minnesota District expires this month. Judge Michael Davis will assume the largely administrative role. Rosenbaum, 63, will remain an active judge with a full load.

During Rosenbaum's two decades as a federal judge, Minnesota's bench has obtained a reputation as an efficient battleground for business litigation, ranging from faulty medical devices to lawsuits from disgruntled shareholders.

In recent years, lawsuits filed across the country have been consolidated in Minnesota for products from Medtronic, St. Jude, Guidant and the drugs Baycol and Mirapex.

"Minnesota has an excellent collection of blue-chip judges," said Houston attorney Christopher Bebel, who specializes in securities litigation.

Rosenbaum presides over the headline-grabbing lawsuit brought against UnitedHealth Group by the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) over the backdating of stock options for top executives.

After two years of pretrial activity, the UnitedHealth case is at a critical juncture. The evidence has been produced, a September trial looms, and a hearing scheduled for July 3 will showcase the company's efforts to persuade Rosenbaum to toss the case.

Rosenbaum is a long way from the St. Paul kid who wanted to be a doctor when he grew up.

After getting involved in politics in college, Rosenbaum steered himself into law. He graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1969 and promptly took a $60-a-week legal position with the federal poverty agency VISTA in Chicago, where he worked in civil rights and housing law. Rosenbaum also met his future wife, Marilyn, during his VISTA stint. Marilyn Rosenbaum is a district court judge for Hennepin County.

"Those were very formative years for him," said brother Ron Rosenbaum, a lawyer and radio personality. "He was living in the projects. He set up a legal clinic. Chicago was the real deal."

When Rosenbaum returned to Minneapolis in 1972, he entered private practice and dabbled in Republican politics. He formed a tight alliance with Rudy Boschwitz, the Plywood Minnesota king who had done business with Rosenbaum's father, Sam, who ran his own lumber company. In 1978, Rosenbaum headed Boschwitz's successful U.S. Senate campaign.

A young U.S. attorney

On Boschwitz's recommendation, the Reagan administration appointed Rosenbaum, then 36, as U.S. attorney for Minnesota in 1981. He oversaw the prosecution of several high-profile cases, including the money-skimming trial of Minneapolis banker and Las Vegas casino owner Deil Gustafson.

Rosenbaum ascended to the federal bench in 1985 at age 40, again as a Reagan appointee.

"He was very young when he was made a judge," said former federal prosecutor Jon Hopeman. "But he took to the job like a duck to water."

Rosenbaum carried a full caseload and soon became known as a tough-minded judge.

"He could be friendly, even on a first-name basis, but he was a strict disciplinarian," said Charles (Bucky) Zimmerman, a plaintiff's lawyer specializing in class-action lawsuits. "He sends you through the wringer."

Zimmerman recalled an incident where Rosenbaum ordered a plaintiff's attorney for an out-of-town law firm to withdraw from a medical device case after one of the principals of that firm got indicted in a plaintiff-for-hire kickback scheme.

"I thought at the time that was very heavy-handed, but it was the right thing to do," Zimmerman said.

Windbags not wanted

Attorneys appearing before Rosenbaum must mind the points of decorum posted on his chambers' website, including no windbags. "Judge Rosenbaum reads the written submissions in advance. There is no need to repeat facts that have been set forth in the brief," states one of his pointers.

During a hearing this year in the UnitedHealth case, Rosenbaum listened to CalPERS' lead attorney for about 30 minutes and then signaled that he'd heard enough.

"Have you hit the high points of your argument?" Rosenbaum asked.

"I have, your honor," the lawyer responded.

At the same hearing, Rosenbaum chided the CalPERS attorney for failing to introduce a new lawyer representing another plaintiff.

"A hint for the future: It might be prudent to let the judge know so he doesn't have to ask," Rosenbaum lectured. "It's a party. Anyone can come. But I want to know who is here," he said.

"I'm probably regarded as a tough judge," Rosenbaum acknowledged in a recent interview. "Real decorum is conducive to obtaining justice. These are real fights with deeply ingrained positions in lawsuits. But that doesn't mean it's a food fight."

If Rosenbaum is at the top of his game these days, he hit a low spot in 2002 when he was at odds with Republican leaders in Congress over sentencing guidelines for low-level defendants in drug cases. The drama reached a point where the House Judiciary Committee threatened to subpoena his sentencing records.

"The country's entire judiciary was watching that, and Jim hung in there," said Doug Kelley, a former assistant U.S. attorney who worked for him when Rosenbaum was the state's top federal prosecutor. "Those were a couple of tough years for him. It was a real dark time for Jim."

"It was the most difficult thing in my professional life," Rosenbaum said.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Rosenbaum's position in 2005 when it gave federal judges more discretion in sentencing criminals.

Last week Rosenbaum had his annual lunch with about 120 law students who are spending the summer as associates at various Twin Cities law firms.

"I was appointed by Ronald Reagan," he said at one point. "Your grandmothers will know who he was."

Rosenbaum stressed the importance of courtroom experience -- "you can only learn so much about swimming without water" -- and good writing: "You can like my rulings or not like them, but you'll like my writing."

An example: Rosenbaum recently issued an order chastising attorneys representing General Mills in a lawsuit against Kellogg Co. and Kraft Foods Global Inc. He described their appeal of a ruling on some discovery motions as "odious, and entirely unwarranted."

In awarding legal fees related to the appeal to the defendants, he wrote: "The Court can easily imagine a dozen ways in which this trifling bit of pettifoggery could have been easily and much-more-charmingly resolved between counsel of good will, rather than by moving counsels' slash-and-burn mechanism."

While meeting the law students, Rosenbaum lamented the ideological hoops that judges now must jump through to get confirmed. He noted that a judge's relatively modest salary -- $165,000 a year -- is a fraction of the earnings of most of the private litigators who appear before him.

"Fewer people are willing to go through this," Rosenbaum said. "It's become very, very politicized. There are good lawyers -- great lawyers -- who say, 'I don't need this.' People get pilloried and it's tough to watch," he said. "Eventually, the public will get what it pays for."

David Phelps • 612-673-7269