David Brink, Minnesota Life Fellow, was a lawyer at the firm that is now Dorsey & Whitney. Mr. Brink served as president of the American Bar Association for a term in 1981-82. He is also past president of the Minnesota
State Bar Association and the Hennepin County Bar Association.
You’ve been a Fellow for almost 50 years. What does being a Fellow mean to you?
It means a lot to me that there is a group devoted to the study and betterment of the profession.
Where were you born and raised?
Born and raised in Minneapolis and nearby University Grove, just north of St. Paul.
What type of law did you practice, and how did you become interested in that particular area?
Primarily Trusts, Estates, Estate Planning and Tax, though also in varied fields of Litigation and International Law. I was an associate assigned to assist Harry A. Blackmun when he was in private practice with what is now Dorsey & Whitney. I became Blackmun’s lawyer when he became a Judge of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals and later Justice of the US Supreme Court. I served as head of the firm’s Washington office for two or three years.
If you had not decided to pursue a career in law, what would you have done?
An alternative career might have been to teach English Literature and Composition in a pleasant small college and write novels (and later poetry) in my spare time.
What was the last book you read?
The last book I RE-read was my mother’s classic, Caddie Woodlawn.
What do you do in your free time?
In my free time I work in Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, Bar Associations and other organizations devoted to bettering the lives and performance of lawyers, judges and law students. At about the age of 88 I took up poetry in a serious way. I read it, studied it, began to write and teach it, formed poetry clubs and did readings. In February 2016, I published a book of my poems entitled Beyond the Delta, which has been very well received. I am working on another book and tending to some disabilities that seem to come with advanced years. I will be 97 later this month. Claim still to possess 51% of my marbles.