Northstar Legal Center

Welcome to the Northstar Legal Center, the legal arm of the Minnesota Family Council/Institute.

Contact Northstar

• Phone: (612) 789-8811
• E-Mail: mail@mfc.org
• Mail:
  Northstar Legal Center
  2855 Anthony Lane South Suite 150
  Minneapolis, MN 55418-3265

Northstar Legal Resources

• Constitutionally Permissible activities in government schools related to religious holidays
• What churches can and cannot do with issues and politics.

Northstar in the News - Pro-Family News Stories

• MFC President's Perspective: Circuit Court Hands MFC a Vital Legal Victor - Good News on Abortion, Bad News on Compulsive Gambling and Marriage Views
• Court Hands Defeat to Liberal Activist Groups at U of M - Appeals Court Says Left-Wing Groups Have No 'Constitutional Right' to Student Fees
• Public Schools are not Christmas-Free Zones - Constitution Allows a Merry Christmas—Even in Your School Classroom
• Disabled Boy Wins Religious Liberty Battle -
• Crystal Free Church Case Is Finally Resolved - High Court Refuses Appeal
• Benton County Battles Nude Dancing and Wins—So Far
• Northstar Legal Center Fights for Family Values
• Student Fees Used for Liberal Advocacy

Northstar Achievements

• Signed legal brief endorsing the constitutionality of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
• Successfully settled lawsuit with Hennepin County on chaplaincy free speech issue.
• Challenged state law that discriminates against special needs students who attend private religious schools.
• Successful in challenging college student fees policy that forces students to pay for extremist liberal activities.
• Successfully challenged the city of Minneapolis' domestic partner health benefits plan.

Northstar Leadership

President: Tom Prichard, Minnesota Family Council

General Counsel: Jordan Lorence, Constitutional Attorney

Advisory Board:

• William Bentley Ball, Esq., Constitutional Attorney
• Michael Farris, President of the Home School Legal Defense Association
• John D. Healy, Jr., Esq., Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donnelly
• John Hinderaker, Esq., Faegre & Benson
• Thomas Jipping, Vice President of the Free Congress Foundation
• Eugene Keating, Esq., Lindquist & Vennum
• Roger Magnuson, Esq., Dorsey Whitney
• Edwin Meese III, Former U.S. Attorney General
• Michael Stokes Paulsen, Professor at University of Minnesota Law School
• D.D. Wozniak, Retired Chief Judge of Minnesota Court of Appeals

Northstar Approach

Legal Network - The Northstar Legal Center has created a network of attorneys in our state and encouraged them to be involved in cases involving parents' rights, education, religious freedoms and free speech issues. The group also is instrumental in giving definition and professional credibility to the conservative pro-family legal position in Minnesota.

Continuing Legal Education (CLE) - By developing a specific topic in-depth, the Northstar Legal Center offers seminars for CLE credit. The seminars offer a traditional, pro-family perspective that is not prominent in state-sponsored courses.

Media Exposure - Media efforts both expand the credibility of the Northstar Legal Center and serve the vital role of educating the public on the cultural and social ramifications of legal decisions.

Northstar History

Today our country faces a cultural crisis that threatens the strength and stability of the American family and our very form of government. It is becoming increasingly important to protect and defend the traditional family through legal means. In fact, all of the major gains by liberal groups in our society primarily have been gained through the courts: abortion, gay rights, removal of school prayer, and so on. Unless we aggressively defend our freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution, we will lose them.

To counteract the liberal impetus in the courts and in fact roll back many of those gains, a conservative state-based legal center was founded. In October of 1995, the Minnesota Family Council announced the creation of the Northstar Legal Center. Since that time, the Northstar Legal Center has actively pursued and litigated lawsuits which further the pro-family, pro-life causes in the state of Minnesota. The Northstar Legal Center is an important vehicle for influencing public opinion and identifying, empowering and energizing like-minded members of the legal community.