Attorneys

Paul Sprenger

"I suppose I do push the envelope, but I think it's necessary to make new law."

Paul Sprenger is the founding partner of Sprenger + Lang and is now Of Counsel to the firm. He graduated from the University of Michigan School of Business Administration in 1962. In 1965, he received a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School. From 1965 until 1977, he practiced law with the Minneapolis business/defense law firm of Johnson & Sands (since dissolved), becoming a partner in 1970. Between 1965 and 1977, Paul focused on individual defense work and commercial class actions. He began to develop his current employment litigation specialty in 1973 (in class actions filed in 1973-74 against Minnesota Mining & Mfg. Co., and the University of Minnesota). In 1977, Paul started his own firm which merged into Sprenger + Lang in 1989. Since 1977, the firm's primary focus has been employment discrimination class actions. Paul has always been a litigator, having tried several hundred cases involving extremely diverse subject matters and forums. He is currently involved in the litigation of the TV Writers' Cases.

Paul has served as lead counsel for many seminal fair employment class and multi-plaintiff actions, including the following: Rajender v. University of Minnesota, 546 F. Supp. 158 (D. Minn. 1982); Mabone v. Pillsbury Co., C.A. No. 4-89-386 (D. Minn.); Aburime v. Northwest Airlines, Inc., C.A. No. 3-89-402 (D. Minn.); In re Pepco Employment Litigation, C.A., No. 86-0603 (D.D.C.,); Henry v. Maytag Corporation, C.A. No. 92-C-417 (W. Va. Cir. Court): Hyman v. First Union, C.A. No. 94-1043 (D.D.C.); Jones v. Ford Motor Co., 95-MDL-1044 (D. Mich.); In re Burlington Northern Employment Practices Litigation, 810, F.2d 601 (7^th Cir. 1987); Burns V. Control Data Corporation, C.A. No. 4-96-41 (D. Minn.); and Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite, Co., 130 F.3d 1287 (8^th Cir. 1997). Over the past 20 years, he has spoken regularly at national, state and local continuing legal education courses across the country and prepared articles concerning trial of employment class actions and related topics.

The history of Sprenger + Lang and its class action work has been reported in various popular and professional publications such as David Carr's "The Little Firm on the Hill", Minnesota Lawyer, June 1991; Tony Munroe's "Taking Employers to Task", The Washington Times, August 7, 1994; John Greenya's "A Passion for Class Action", The Washington Lawyer, the Official Journal of the District of Columbia Bar, March/April 1995, David Phelps' "From Eveleth to Hollywood", Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 21, 2002, and Marc Conklin's "Sprenger + Lang Raises the Bar", Law & Politics, April/May 2003.