We had a full house today with 24 of 30 members attending plus several guests. All were able to hear a fascinating presentation from guest speaker Roberta Walburn, arranged by Frank Mabley. Roberta came to the Twin Cities originally to work as a writer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. She came to feel that earning a law degree would make her a better journalist, which she went on to do while continuing her work at the Strib. After publishing a story involving MN Federal Judge Miles Lord, she received a phone call from Lord asking her to clerk for him upon completion of her law degree. This she did from 1983-1984. She had a ring side seat to one of Lord's most celebrated cases - against A.H. Robbins as a result of the Dalcon Shield product liability issues. The company had already been fighting individual product liability suits for 10 years before they found themselves in Lord's courtroom. He worked to consolidate multiple cases, and the resulting judgement led to the firm's bankruptcy filing. Lord's other nationally known case was against the Reserve Mining Corporation based in northern MN. While initially sympathizing with the company due to the well-paying jobs it provided, he ultimately found against them and their practice of dumping taconite waste into Lake Superior. Ultimately Wilburn decided to write a book about Lord and his notable career as an activist federal judge from 1966 to 1986. Lord grew up on MN's Iron Range and had a passion for defending "the little guy" from childhood on. From fighting bullies on the playground, he went on to become a Golden Gloves boxing champion and then a federal judge fond of taking on big corporate interests.