Profile: Tamara Haas:
Caring and communication count

In the male-dominated world of personal-injury lawyers, Tamara Haas says being a woman and a former nurse gives her a big advantage.

"I think the perception is that women listen better," said Haas, who has been in solo practice in Minneapolis since 1995. She said she gets just as many calls from men as from women who say they're looking for a female attorney because they want to be heard.

Above and beyond winning cases, Haas finds rewards in helping her clients work through their problems and get on with their lives. Being a plaintiff in a personal-injury lawsuit is very unpleasant, she said, but she tries to make it a positive experience by tending to the emotional as well as the legal issues.

"That's the nurse in me, frankly. That's never going to go away," she said.

Haas worked full time as a nurse in newborn intensive care while attending William Mitchell School of Law in St. Paul part time - a schedule so demanding that she jokes about wanting to subtract those years from her date of birth. As a student and then a practicing lawyer, she worked on Dalkon Shield litigation, and she said of going from nursing into personal-injury law, "It was such a natural leap."

Her bedside manner also was a factor in her decision to open her own practice, she said. "I like to be able to spend a lot of time with my clients. In a lot of the firms I worked with that was not encouraged."

Based on a survey of other lawyers, publisher Martindale-Hubbell gave Haas's practice its highest rating, AV ("superior, highly ethical").

Haas runs a small ad in the phone book Yellow Pages that includes information about her nursing background. Between that and word of mouth, she attracts a solid client base but still finds time to serve on the Board of Governors and numerous committees for the Minnesota Trial Lawyers Association. Her efforts as Education Committee chairperson last year won her an award of excellence from the group. She's also a member of several other organizations and a frequent speaker for continuing legal education programs.

As busy as she is, Haas said she maintains a balanced life, leaving the office by 5 p.m. daily and never going in on weekends. Her free time is for her husband, attorney Lawrence Dingmann, and the couple's two children, ages 2 and 6, as well as her favorite leisure pastime, cooking. But even at play, Haas is thinking of the greater good: She's writing a cookbook.

Contact Tamara Haas at:
Law Offices of Tamara M. Haas, P.A.
527 Marquette Ave. Suite 1925
Minneapolis, Minn. 55402
Phone: (612) 333-4377, Fax (612) 339-1386
E-mail: resnickseilerhaas@worldnet.att.net