The American Lawyer website has named former Vice President Walter Mondale one of its eight “2011 Lifetime Achievers.”
Mondale, also a former U.S. senator and ambassador to Japan, is now senior counsel at the Dorsey & Whitney law firm in Minneapolis.
The site notes that Mondale, 83, consults on international affairs and keeps a hand in local civic life, such as working with former Gov. Arne Carlson to form a task force that tried (they get credit for trying, even if it didn’t work) to help solve the state budget shutdown:
But Mondale’s life isn’t all about power players and big issues. At Dorsey, Mondale takes summer associates out to breakfast. “He engages with us about everything from life in the White House to his favorite hot dog stand at the state fair,” says summer associate Nadia Aboussir. “It’s astounding that someone who was the vice president, an ambassador, and a senator will look at us as peers.”
Here’s the entire list of this American Lawyers’ 2011 honorees:
- Richard Beattie, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Michael Boone, Haynes and Boone
- Wayne Budd, Goodwin Procter
- Gordon Erspamer, Morrison & Foerster
- Cathy Lamboley, Shell Oil Co.
- Stanley Levy, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips
- Walter Mondale, Dorsey & Whitney
- Lowell Sachnoff, Reed Smith
Every honor he gets is well deserved.