Dynamic duo lead powerful Midwest law firm

Black-controlled firm one of few handling major corporate litigation

By Al Brown
Contributing Writer

Herbert A. Igbanugo (l) and Jerry W. Blackwell lead a successful law firm because “we win a lot.”

Photo by Emmett Timmon

The Minneapolis law firm of Blackwell Igbanugo P.A. is not your typical legal clearinghouse. Its 20-member team boasts some of the most impressive corporate clients in America, including 3M, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Graco Inc., The Tribune Company, Paisley Park Enterprises Inc./ recording artist Prince, VHA Inc., and MEDMARC Inc.

In just seven years under the leadership of super lawyers Jerry W. Blackwell and Herbert A. Igbanugo, the firm has catapulted to one of the top Black-controlled firms in the country — and possibly number one.

Nearly as impressive as the major-league client list are the areas of practice in which Blackwell Igbanugo specialize. According to Blackwell, board chair and president, the firm’s strengths stem from many years of individual experience in high-end legal areas of commercial litigation, international trade practice, products liability defense, and asbestos and silica defense.

“Our team is also advanced in areas of employment law, intellectual property, bankruptcy, property insurance and alternative dispute resolution,” said Blackwell.

Their model for success is to win often and cost effectively. With basically the same infrastructure as a firm of 200 or more lawyers, Blackwell Igbanugo prides itself on being able to accommodate the same clients, but with a greater degree of maneuverability. “We are like a speedboat that can make decisions and turns more quickly and cost effectively than firms that have been around for 50 years and move like battleships,” said Blackwell.

“Another strength is our diversity. In a firm where race and gender truly does not matter, our clients find a cross section of America. Regardless of cultural background, they are very comfortable. We also take pride that people do not hire us because we are a minority-run firm — no more than you would hire a plumber based on skin color. You would hire him based on experience. We are no different than an auto garage — people want good service at a good price, and we provide it.”

Blackwell Igbanugo’s diversity philosophy is worthy of emulation. They have never had need of a diversity committee and treat diversity as most companies should — as a leadership issue rather than an annual committee meeting agenda, as is often the case in most corporate structures. The firm recently received a diversity award from the Hennepin County Bar Association.

The road to success has provided different travels for the firm’s leaders. Founding partner Herbert A. Igbanugo is a native of Nigeria, Africa, who once aspired to come to America and become a pilot. However, his father, an accomplished surgeon, had always wanted a lawyer in the family. Igbanugo went on to attend the University of Minnesota, completing a double major before receiving a Juris Doctor degree from Hamline University School of Law in 1987.

Igbanugo quickly established himself as one of the top immigration lawyers in the area. In fact, during the ’80s he was the only Black practicing immigration lawyer in the state. “It was a tough period and I had several strikes against me — I was foreign and spoke with an accent,” reflects Igbanugo. “I don’t think the larger firms took me seriously during this time.”

Ironically, his big legal break came in the highly celebrated criminal case of former Vikings’ punter Donald Igwebuike, who was indicted on a drug charge in 1990. Urebeka, also a Nigerian native, called Ignanugo instantly. “He [Igwebuike] called me shortly following a game in Philadelphia after being accosted by FBI agents,” said Igbanugo. “The next 24 hours was a circus. I was on CNN and other major television networks. It was scary, but nonetheless a career-enhancing case.”

Igbanugo has also practiced in the area of post-conviction remedies, where he fought for the freedom of wrongly accused inmates. But immigration is his passion, as he excels in immigration and nationality law (world trade) as well as international business law (Sub-Saharan African). He is admitted to practice before U.S. Federal District Courts, the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of International Trade, and the Second, Third, Fifth and Eighth Circuit Courts of Appeals.

Blackwell’s legal journey began, he said, when he was in the second grade while growing up in Annapolis, Maryland. “I loved to read, and it would always make my mother happy. So from the first time she said, ‘You are going to be a lawyer,’ it stuck with me,” said Blackwell with a smile.

Hailing from a family of eight, he was the first in the family to attend college. On a full academic scholarship, he went on to graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a Tar Heel, his claim to fame was being Michael Jordan’s orientation counselor and sharing the same dorm.

After law school, Blackwell was set on becoming a plaintiff lawyer, a capacity in which he could represent the injured and those in opposition to management and insurance companies, which is to some extent quite the opposite of what he does today.

Blackwell got his Minnesota start in 1987 at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, the largest firm in Minnesota at the time, handling injury cases. Upon his arrival the firm was already hard at work defending the government of India, which had filed suit against Union Carbide after a chemical explosion in Bhopal, India, had killed more than 10,000 people three years earlier.

“After the case I thought I’d head back to the Southeast. But some 16 years later I’m still here, said Blackwell, who was at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi for 10 years, making partner after just six. “I was the youngest partner at this time and the first African American to make partner in the firm.”

Blackwell has represented several major corporations in federal and state courts in 47 states, Australia, England, Puerto Rico, and Canada. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court; state and federal courts in Minnesota, Michigan, Arizona, and Indiana; and the Fourth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Circuit Courts of Appeals. He is also a recipient of the 2002 Minnesota Law & Politics “Super Lawyer” award, an honor voted on by fellow attorneys throughout Minnesota. Blackwell’s areas of expertise lie in products liability defense, asbestos and silica defense, commercial litigation, intellectual property and entertainment, and alternative dispute resolution.

Adding depth to Blackwell Igbanugo is their interest in community. The duo hope to build a corporate infrastructure that will create foundations through which they can contribute to their respective communities.

“We’d like to be able to assist Black judges in their reelection bids. Given African American interactions with the justice system over the years, most should understand how important it is to have judges who understand their community,” Blackwell said.

The firm also has plans to develop a series of mock trials featuring community youth. “People do not really understand that from the time that one wakes in the morning ’till they go to bed, there is some aspect of the law that affects their life. We want to do mock trials that are primarily geared towards our kids who do not have exposure to what lawyers do or understand the inner working of a law firm,” explained Blackwell. Blackwell Igbanugo has drawn comparison to other top Black legal guns in the country, namely California-based Johnny Cochran, to which a confident Blackwell responed, “We were thinking that Johnnie Cochran was the Blackwell Igbanugo of Los Angeles. We have a lot of respect for what the Johnnie Cochrans and the Willie Garys have accomplished, and hopefully one day we can join forces on the right kind of case. Just know that Johnnie wins a lot, and we win a lot.”