Phillip A. Cole / Retired
Former Areas of Practice: Legal Malpractice, Professional Liability, Medical Malpractice, Commercial Litigation, Business Litigation, Intellectual Property Litigation, Shareholder/Owner Disputes, Wrongful Death
Phillip A. Cole / Biography
Before his retirement, Phil Cole used his extensive litigation experience in handling personal injury cases, commercial disputes, business torts, class actions, medical malpractice claims, and the defense of all types of claims brought against lawyers. Mr. Cole has been a frequent lecturer and a published author in the areas of trial strategies and professional liability subjects. Mr. Cole was a board certified civil trial advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy before retiring.
He has been a qualified neutral under Rule 114 of the Minnesota General Rules of Practice and included on the civil neutrals rosters for both facilitative/hybrid and adjudicative/evaluative panels. Mr. Cole was selected as the Minneapolis Best Lawyers Legal Malpractice Lawyer of the Year for 2011 and as the Minneapolis Best Lawyers Legal Malpractice Lawyer-Defendants of the Year for 2014 and again in 2019. Cole, a member of the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys until his retirement, was certified as a specialist in the litigation of both legal and medical professional liability claims (this national organization is not accredited by the Minnesota Board of Legal Certification).
Mr. Cole has also been recognized in the International Who’s Who, Who’s Who in American Law, the National Registry of Who’s Who, and as one of The Best Lawyers in America© by U.S. World & News Report. He has been repeatedly listed as a Minnesota Super Lawyer and has been listed as a Top 100 Minnesota Super Lawyer for over a dozen years. Before his retirement he was rated AV Preeminent® for the highest level of professional excellence by Martindale-Hubbell.
Education
- University of Maryland, B.A., 1961
- Georgetown University, J.D., 1964
News + Articles
John Crawford and Kay Nord Hunt Contribute to Minnesota Insurance Law Deskbook
Lommen Abdo litigator John Crawford is the editor of the Minnesota Insurance Law Deskbook that was updated this year with its publisher, Minnesota Continuing Legal Education. John and Kay Nord Hunt also updated Chapter 15, Select Commercial General Liability Policy...
Four Things to Consider About Do-it-Yourself Estate Planning Software
As a price conscious homeowner, I am all for do-it-yourself projects to save a few dollars here and there. I often bite off more than I can chew, like the time I thought I could handle rerouting the plumbing in a bathroom. Predictably, this resulted in a flooded...
Professionalism & Ethics: Downloading Technology in Legal Practice; Amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct
Bryan Feldhaus presented a Hennepin County Bar Association seminar on Professionalism & Ethics: Downloading Technology in Legal Practice; Amendments to the Rules of Professional Conduct on September 8, 2017. Legal professionals are under increasing attack by...
Legal Storytellers: Kay Nord Hunt and Barry O’Neil
The ability to make the complex simple and clearly understood is a valuable trait for a litigator. That ability is one of the reasons why Kay Nord Hunt has been selected as Best Lawyers® 2018 Minneapolis "Lawyer of the Year" for her appellate practice and why Barry...
Homeowner associations must comply with new requirements
Townhome, condominium, and other homeowner associations are typically part of what is called a common interest community, or CIC. An association may be organized in the form of a profit, nonprofit, or cooperative organization, but CICs are generally controlled by the...
Minnesota’s “New” LLC Statute
Way back “in the day” -- 1992 -- the Minnesota Legislature rolled the dice, betting on the long-term success of a limited liability company statute modeled on Minnesota’s existing corporation statute with a few flexible “partnership” type features. The statute worked...