Kevin Cederstrom
In her 10 years at the Peloquin & Minge law office in New York Mills, Lori Athmann says she has worked in just about every capacity possible. Legal secretary, bookkeeper, paralegal... and now, attorney.
Lori's route to earning her law degree was unconventional and certainly not easy. Lori began her undergraduate studies at Moorhead State University in 1997, shortly after starting at Peloquin & Minge. While working full time in NY Mills she attended classes on nights and weekend, and graduated from MSU in 2000.
A year later she enrolled in the weekend law program at Hamline in the Twin Cities. Still working during the week at the Mills office, Lori attended law school all day Saturday and Sunday for 3 1/2 years. She finished law school in December of 2005 and passed the bar in February of this year.
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Now she works as an attorney at the same office she started at in 1996 as a bookkeeper and legal secretary.
"I finally made it after 8 years of school," she said. "I kind of did it the non-traditional way."
Lori focuses mainly on family law and civil litigation matters. She has the most experience in divorces, custody cases, adoptions and child support. She has added personal experience in the area of adoption as well.
While in her first semester of law school Lori and her husband adopted a 10-day-old baby, Abby, who is now 3 years old. Holding down a full time job, going to school on weekends and adopting a baby is certainly a full load for anybody, but Lori made it through to graduation, sort of shrugging it all off as a walk in the park.
"I think I could be a professional student," she said. "I love school."
The fact she enjoys school and obviously does well at it isn't the only reason for her success. She had some help.
"The guys here were really supportive," she said referring to attorneys Steve Peloquin and John Minge. "They were really good about me taking time off when I needed it. I also had a great supportive family."
Lori, who lives with Abby in Wadena, is originally from Sauk Center. Her mother still lives there and took care of Abby while Lori spent her weekends in the classroom.
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The fact Lori worked for about six years in a law office helped her gain valuable experience before jumping into the classroom again full time. She was able to connect the dots a lot more and look back on cases she had worked on previously for reference.
Hamline University is one of only a couple law schools in the country to offer weekend programs. And when Lori started in 2001 the Hamline program was only in its second year. Lori said without being able to attend school on the weekends she most likely wouldn't have been able to earn her degree.
Peloquin & Minge is located at 15 N. Main in NY Mills. They also have offices in Perham and Park Rapids.
