Elizabeth
M.
Brama
Treasurer; Shareholder; Business Litigation
Liz is a shareholder in Briggs and Morgan’s Business Litigation Section in our Minneapolis office. She also serves as the firm’s treasurer and is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive). Liz focuses on complex litigation matters for clients across many industries, and has successfully resolved financial disputes ranging from multi-million dollar acquisitions to regulatory rate proceedings.
Liz practices primarily in the following areas:
- Financial and accounting disputes
- Energy industry litigation and regulation
- Merger and acquisition disputes
- Labor and employment litigation
- General complex commercial litigation
- Breach of contract and fraud
- Appellate law
Finance/post-acquisition disputes
Liz’s experience as a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) has led to her involvement in a wide range of commercial disputes. She also has consulted on numerous matters regarding accounting and finance issues such as damages calculation, potential accountant malpractice, and financial statement evaluation.
Her experience includes representation of:
- a global marketing services company in arbitration regarding its acquisition of a privately held company. The private arbitration resulted in determining the proper financial accounting and purchase price for the acquired company under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
- an international distributor in litigation over its multimillion dollar acquisition of a privately held business. The matter involved determining the acquired company’s equity and accounting for post-acquisition sales.
- public utilities in rate determination proceedings
Energy and environmental litigation and regulation
Given her litigation and finance experience, Liz assists her energy and utility clients in a full range of disputes, including contract disputes, arbitration and dispute resolution, and appeals before state and federal regulatory agencies and courts.
Liz’s energy and environmental experience includes representation of:
- ALLETE, dba Minnesota Power, in proceedings before Minnesota Public Utilities Commission regarding utility rates for electric service in Minnesota
- utilities in litigation involving power line placement and potential public works interruption of utility service
- utilities in regulatory proceedings regarding transmission line routing
- international businesses in private arbitration regarding allocation of liability for a $100 million coal tar clean-up in sediments of bay in Duluth, MN
- the successor to a railroad in regulatory dispute and liability allocation litigation involving an arsenic-contaminated site inherited by the client
- businesses in potentially responsible party (PRP) groups working with EPA and state agencies on environmental contamination and remediation matters
Labor and employment litigation
Liz also has significant labor and employment litigation experience, including:
- defense of a multinational business services organization in a whistle blower dispute involving alleged accounting fraud
- drafting an amicus curiae to the Minnesota Court of Appeals on behalf of multiple local Fortune 500 companies regarding age discrimination class action
- representing a local airline against hundreds of group unemployment insurance claims in 18 states
- representing multiple employers in discrimination, whistle blower, breach of contract, and collective bargaining disputes and appeals by employees
Redistricting
Serving as legal counsel for the 2001-2002 Minnesota Special Redistricting Panel, Liz advised a five-judge panel on law relevant to redrawing state legislative and congressional districts, relevant procedural law, election processes and demographic issues. She also drafted possible redistricting plans and analyzed potential and final district maps. Subsequently, Liz co-authored, “Should Judges Get Out of Redistricting?” with Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Thomas J. Kalitowski for the March 2004 issue of Bench & Bar of Minnesota.
Liz is admitted to Minnesota state courts, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. She is a member of the Minnesota State and Hennepin County bar associations, Minnesota Women Lawyers, and is chair of the Minnesota State Bar Association Professionalism Committee.
She serves on the Board of Governors for the University of St. Thomas School of Law, the William C. Norris Institute Advisory Board, and the board of the Minneapolis Downtown Council. Liz formerly served on the board of directors for the Sexual Violence Center and is the organization’s past president.
In the community, Liz has provided pro bono services as a Hennepin County guardian ad litem since 2001. As a guardian, she is appointed by the court to advocate for the best interests of children subjected to abuse and neglect.
In 2009, Liz was selected as a “Woman to Watch” by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal, and has been included multiple times in “Minnesota Rising Stars,” as seen in Minnesota Super Lawyers. Liz also has been listed as a “Future Star” in Benchmark Litigation, and was named one of Minnesota Lawyer’s 2006 “Up and Coming Attorneys.”
Liz received her B.A. in accounting and political science summa cum laude from the University of St. Thomas where she was also an Aquinas Scholar. She successfully completed the Certified Public Accountant Examination in the State of Minnesota. Liz received her law degree magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota School of Law, where she was lead note and comment editor of the Minnesota Law Review, and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Liz clerked for the Office of the General Counsel, University of Minnesota, during law school and for the Honorable Kathleen A. Blatz, Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, after graduation.