Minnesota Law & Politics is Dead

Thomson Reuters bought Super Lawyers, but the local law mag didn't make the cut.

Key Professional Media sold its successful Super Lawyers, a consumer-focused publication that rates attorneys, to Thomson Reuters on Feb. 1. The publishing giant wasn't interested in purchasing Minnesota Law & Politics. Key decided to kill that mag.

Super Lawyers has become a huge success, publishing in 49 states. But the pub has also drawn controversy. Three years ago City Pages summed it up: "Although Super Lawyers purports to identify the top 5 percent of attorneys in the state, the poll that is a key determinate of who makes the list counts the opinion of less than 10 percent of the state's legal professionals."

Today, David Brauer reports what publisher Bill White has to say about the pub's history here in Minnesota:

With photographer Larry Marcus, we've created some outrageous and memorable covers: They've featured a "Buck'" naked politician, lawyers bungee jumping, Senators taking a wide stance in bathroom stalls, and of course, there have been the parody covers: of Cosmo ("20 Great Summer Looks for the Courtroom"), Calvin Klein ads, the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue (Our sizzling hot law suit issue), Norman Rockwell and Reno 911.

Every year for two decades, Steve Kaplan has presented you with our annual Turkeys of the Year, celebrating the best of the worst. And in each issue I've had the opportunity to share the mundane and quirky occurrences of my life on the back page column, All Seriousness Aside. We've always tried to create a magazine that lived up to its slogan,"Only our name is boring." For us, this job has been more fun than work.