Alana K. Bassin
Partner
Phone: 612.672.3250
Fax: 612.672.3200
Our Attorneys

Alana K. Bassin

Biography

Alana Bassin is an established trial attorney who has represented fortune 500 companies in the areas of product liability and personal injury defense. She has extensive experience defending  medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers, nursing homes and hospitals, construction and building products, as well as high exposure chemical/toxic tort cases. In addition, she has experience handling employment law and commercial litigation matters.

As a first-chair trial attorney, Alana's extensive trial practice has taken her to at least 25 different states defending high exposure personal injury and wrongful death cases. Although she has had several successful Daubert motions and settlements, clients rely on her for her ability to skillfully cross examine experts and other witnesses, and handle other key parts of trial including opening and closing statements. She further has significant experience working with insured and self-insured companies and their Third-Party Administrators in handling their litigation.

Alana currently serves as chair of the firm's policy and diversity committees and was the Hiring Partner for the Minneapolis office from 2007-2008. She is frequently called upon by local and national publications and has been featured in the 2005 New York Times' article, “The Pacifier Isn't for the Client,” the 2005 MSP Business Journal article, “You've Come a Long Way Baby,” and was a 2007 guest on the Women On The Move radio program. Alana recently received the title of "Power Mom" in an article in Minneapolis St. Paul Magazine.

Alana's representative experience includes:

  • Representing a major fortune 100 technology company on a national basis for building products, climate control solutions, HVAC and security systems
  • Serving as lead counsel to one of the nation's largest long-term care providers, as well as several other independent nursing homes
  • Serving as national counsel for a global industrial adhesive manufacturer in cases involving construction siding materials and other building products, as well as class action suits
  • Handling numerous medical device and pharmaceutical cases related to ambulation devices, defibrillators, dialysis cases, hearing aids and skin pads
  • Served as lead counsel for a roof contractor in a high-profile wrongful death case in Minnesota involving decedent falling through a sky light at the IDS Tower (Minnesota's tallest building)
  • Representing the nation's largest hearing aid manufacturer in various commercial litigation and employment matters
  • First chaired two wrongful death cases in long term care settings, including an arbitration in Minnesota and a jury trial in Texas
  • Serving as defense counsel for a large cleaning materials, chemical and pest control company on a national level

 

Follow Alana's blog at www.courtroomdivas.com.

Education

  • University of North Dakota School of Law, J.D., 1996
    Regional Moot Court Competition
    with distinction
    Board of Editors, North Dakota Law Review
  • Queen's University, Bachelor of Commerce, 1993
    with honors
  • Queen's University, B.A., 1993

Bar Admissions

  • North Dakota, 1996
  • Minnesota, 1996

Memberships and Affiliations

ABA Litigation Section, Trial Practice Subcommittee, 2008 - 2011
    Co-Chair of Program Development
    Vice Chair 2011 


ABA Litigation Section, Women Advocate Subcommittee, 2007 - 2008
    Past Co-Chair of Work Life Balance

Minnesota State Bar Association

Defense Research Institute

Care Providers of Minnesota

North Dakota State Board of Law Examiners

Distinctions

40 Under Forty, 2010
    Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal

Rising Star®, 2001 - 2010
    Minnesota Law & Politics Magazine 

Classes and Seminars Taught


"101: The Reasons Why Nursing Homes Get Sued," Care Providers of Minnesota Conference, November 14, 2011

"Key Preparation for Corporate Witnesses and Executive Testimony," Bowman and Brooke Hot Topics Seminar, Minneapolis, MN, November 11, 2010

"Claims, Defenses, Exhibits And How A Chart Can Help or Hurt!" Care Providers of MN, 2010 

"What To Do After An Adverse Event," Care Providers, Minnesota Long Term Care Organization, 2009

"Communicating Effectively with Jurors: Generation X and Y," Bowman and Brooke Hot Topics Seminar, 2008

"Charting: A Legal View on Nursing Documentation and How to Get it Right, Care Providers," Minnesota Long Term Care Organization, 2008

"CLE: Minnesota Law of Construction Defects and Failures - Case Studies: Lessons Learned from Recent Litigation," HalfMoon LLC (Eagan, MN), May 16, 2008

"CLE: Preventing and Defending a Lawsuit: What Architects, Engineers and Contractors Should Know," 2007

"Legal Writing," Adjunct Law Professor, William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, MN, 2001 - 2006

"Preventing and Defending a Lawsuit," Lumberman's Association, 2005

"CLE: The Value of Early Evaluation in Litigation," 2005

"Product Liability Law," Guest Lecturer, University of St. Thomas, M.B.A., 2005

"CLE: Monitoring Employees in the Workplace," 2002

Published Works

"Striking a Balance in Law and Life," Chapter from The Woman Advocate, 2nd Edition, 2010

"Does Sorry Work for the Long-Term Care Provider?" (with Shane V. Bohnen), Andrews Nursing Home Reporter, 2009.

"Tackling Tough Issues at Trial," Verdict, Summer 2009

"Gender and Generational Issues Across Borders," Verdict, Vol. 23, No. 1, Winter, 2009

"Flight of Female Lawyers in Canada Mirrors US Exodus," Of Counsel, January, 2009

"Marketing and Business Development for Senior Associates," The Woman Advocate, Fall, 2008

"Gender and Generational Issues Across Borders," The Woman Advocate, Summer, 2008

"Why Packing a Pistol Perpetuates Patriarchy," Hastings Women's Law Journal, Vol. 8, No. 2, Fall, 1997

"Modifying the Time, Place and Manner Analysis for Free Speech Injunctions: The United States Supreme Court creates a heightened scrutiny to review content neutral injunctions imposed against antiabortion protest," Madsen v. Women's Health Center, Inc., 114 S. Ct. 2516 (1994), 71 N.D.L.REV. 4, 1995