Reprinted with permission from the AMLAW DAILY featured on August 26, 2010. © 2010 ALM Media Properties, LLC. All rights reserved.
The office building housing Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. rises in downtown Minneapolis, hard by the Mississippi. Many lawyers at the firm, Chris Messerly among them, cross the river every day, driving to work on Route 35. Or at least they did until Aug. 2, 2007, when the bridge spanning the Mississippi collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring 145.