Minneapolis, St Paul, Minnesota Personal Injury Lawyer Priscilla Lord Faris

Managing Partner

What makes for a good personal injury attorney in Minnesota? Knowledge of the law and how to apply it is an obvious prerequisite. So is the ability to collect, analyze and interpret a complex set of facts and communicate them in a manner that is both compelling and easy for people to understand.

Courage, Commitment and Passion

But few attorneys succeed over the long term unless they also have a deep and abiding passion for helping people. That kind of commitment to ensuring that individuals and families get a fair shake from our legal system is one reason Priscilla Lord Faris has been recognized as one of Minnesota’s top lawyers.

Accomplishments

Recently, Lord Faris had the courage to back up her convictions by running in the DFL 2008 primary election. She had just 7 weeks to make her mark and within days of announcing, the campaign attracted amazing volunteers who contributed time, energy, experience, money, ideas, marketing and public relations assistance. She garnered 30% (75,000) of the vote, which showed her message was resonating with Minnesotans. Lord Faris and her supporters affected the political process in the same way Lord & Faris affect the justice system.

A glance at her background reveals the many factors that have driven her success…

Born in Minneapolis, raised in the western suburbs. Daughter of well-known Federal Court Judge Miles Lord and Maxine Lord. University of Minnesota graduate. Worked on the staff of Senator Hubert H. Humphrey in 1963 and campaigned for the Senator in his run for President in 1968. Passionate about youth and youth athletics. Served on the staff of Young Life in Washington D.C. Taught third grade and special education. Member of League of Women Voters. Earned a law degree from Hamline University. Married to Wayne Faris, successful attorney and business executive. Mother of three. Law clerk for the Honorable John Connelly in Federal Bankruptcy Court. Ten-year career in investment real estate. Currently holds a real estate broker’s license in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Served on the boards of Little Earth Housing Community and Chrysalis. Trained mediator. Served for 8 years on the University of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Advisory Board and a member of the University’s President’s Club. Traveled to over 15 foreign countries. Lifelong advocate and community leader. Opened her own personal injury law practice in 1993 to serve people in Minneapolis, St. Paul and across Minnesota who have been harmed by medical devices or medications or injured or killed in car accidents or through other tragic circumstances.

Serving Minnesota’s Legal Community

Priscilla Lord Faris has served the legal community as a member of the Board of Governors of the Minnesota Justice Association (formerly known as Minnesota Trial Lawyers Association) and as co-chair of its legislative committee. She is also a member of the American Association for Justice and Public Justice, a national public interest law firm. She also served as a member of a group that studied and made recommendations to the State of Minnesota Pardon Board, and headed up the lobbying effort of Minnesota MADD at the Minnesota legislature in the early 1990s.

1993 Opening Of Small Personal Injury Firm

Since opening her own personal injury law firm in 1993, Priscilla Lord Faris has earned accolades from her clients as well as her peers in the legal community for her knowledge of the law, professionalism and commitment to client service and achieving results. She’s experienced at evaluating cases and ushering them through the maze of paperwork and other legal processes required for people to obtain a fair outcome when they or a family member have suffered as a result of an accident or other incident that has caused harm, injury or even death.

Her introduction to the practice of personal injury law came after a decade in investment real estate and the death of their son in 1989. “It was a difficult time, and I needed a change,” she recalls. “My father had retired as a federal court judge and started a practice within a practice with a local firm that was handling silicone breast implant cases.” A handful of medical device injury cases became over 600 cases over the next seven years as Lord Faris became adept at managing the complex legal and medical paperwork and processes required to successfully adjudicate each case and claim. Lord Faris’ hard work ultimately paid off for her clients, who received settlements from the implant manufacturers ranging from $10,000 to $250,000.

Class Action Work

In 2001, both Priscilla and Wayne Faris took on another major challenge: representing people harmed by their use of the diet drug Fen Phen, which was found to cause heart valve dysfunction and primary pulmonary hypertension. By the end of 2002, Lord Faris had submitted personal injury claims on behalf of approximately 300 clients. “These cases can take many months to file and many years to resolve,” says Lord Faris. “For almost all of 2002 and 2003, we worked seven days a week. In fact, we’re still coordinating all the paperwork involved with payments from the court settlement.” In those cases, clients of Lord & Faris Law Office received from $2,000 to more than $562,000.

Areas Of Practice

When they’re not handling large, complex personal injury cases, Lord Faris and her dedicated team represent clients injured or killed in car accidents or truck accidents, by a dog or animal bite, or harmed by sexual harassment or discrimination. Lord Faris is also experienced in representing doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals facing disciplinary actions from state or federal medical licensing or regulatory agencies. In addition, the firm has helped to resolve unique legal issues such as Qui Tam, consumer debt reduction, basic contract disputes and real estate warranty issues.

Protecting Our Youth Through Legislation and Community Action

Following the loss of their son to a drunk driver in 1989, Lord Faris has volunteered with MADD® and served as a speaker about the impact of drunk driving accidents. She also played a key role in the development of social host and dramshop legislation aimed at deterring drunk driving and preventing similar accidents and loss of life. As a member of Minnesota Join Together, a project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Priscilla led the committee that drafted legislation that allows for civil liability against adults who serve alcohol to minors. That bill passed both the Minnesota House and Senate and was signed into law in May 2000.

Public Service

In 2000, Lord Faris was elected to a four year term on her City Council in the city of Sunfish Lake. In 2008, Lord Faris ran in the DFL primary for the U.S. Senate. After only 7 weeks of campaigning she lost, but with 30 percent of the vote (75,000).