Candidate for Treasurer
Anu Chudasama
Bassford Remele of Minneapolis
Email: achudasama@bassford.com
Platform Statement
I am honored to accept the nomination to run for treasurer. Professionally and personally, I actively connect with and listen to others and, if elected, would consistently do this to bring forward issues raised by in-state and nonresident lawyers. As current president of the State Bar of Wisconsin Nonresident Lawyers Division (NRLD), I am keenly aware of issues affecting nonresident lawyers, and practicing in Wisconsin, I care deeply about what the State Bar is doing for lawyers, the public, and legal system at large.
I am confident I can meet the demands of the role; I have been analyzing financial spreadsheets for over three years on the NRLD board and for one and a half years on the State Bar Board of Governors (BOG), and have served as treasurer of a nonprofit organization (and very briefly, the Eau Claire County Bar Association). But beyond processing financial data, I would use the role to provide a voice in spending discussions on key issues like diversity and inclusion, racial justice, and equity. As the chair of BOG’s Governance Committee, I recently helped facilitate diversity training to BOG members. Our NRLD board assembled a tremendous panel of speakers for a CLE to discuss racial justice, diversity and inclusion, and disparate incarceration. I want to keep these issues at the forefront of financial discussions and action.
If elected, I would work toward continuing the State Bar’s financial health while critically thinking about where funds are spent and where there is room for improvement. Feel free to contact me. Thank you.
Biography
I am a litigation attorney at Bassford Remele, PA, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, representing individuals and entities in Minnesota and Wisconsin. I am also licensed in New York. My practice is focused on medical and legal malpractice, personal injury, products liability, construction litigation, and insurance coverage disputes. A significant portion of my practice involves defending physicians, hospitals, and long-term care facilities against medical malpractice claims. In my legal career, I have represented plaintiffs and defendants and have an appreciation of the merits and challenges on both sides.
I graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2010, where I had the opportunity to complete a judicial internship at the Wisconsin Supreme Court. I was a member of Wisconsin Law Review and part of an award-winning team in a foreign direct investment international moot arbitration competition. I was the recipient of the Stewart Macaulay Award for Excellence and Leadership in Contract Law.
Professional Bar/Leadership
I am the Chair of Minnesota State Bar Association’s (MSBA) Professional Regulation Committee. The Committee’s role is to study and recommend changes to, or provide comments regarding, the Rules of Professional Conduct, Rules on Lawyers Professional Responsibility, Rules for Bar Admission, or policies or administration of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility, the Lawyers Board, and the Board of Law Examiners.
I am a Minnesota Supreme Court-appointee to the No-Fault Standing Committee, which oversees the American Arbitration Association’s day-to-day administration of no-fault claims, as well as Minnesota’s No-Fault Arbitrator Panel. Among other duties, I investigate complaints against arbitrators alleging violations of the arbitration rules and standards of conduct. I am also a no-fault arbitrator.
From 2017 to 2018, I was an ethics investigator for the Second District in Minnesota; I investigated ethics complaints made against attorneys. For three years, I was a board member, and most recently, treasurer, of Civil Society, an organization that provides legal and other services to victims of human trafficking and sexual assault.
I have been a co-chair of the Judges’ Dinner Committee for the Ramsey County Bar Association (RCBA) for over three years and have also assisted in planning and executing the RCBA’s Bench & Bar Benefit, an annual fundraising effort that gives the proceeds to law related charities.
Involvements
State Bar of Wisconsin Board of Governors, Governor and Governance Committee Chair
State Bar of Wisconsin Nonresident Lawyers Division, President
Minnesota State Bar Association Professional Regulation Committee, Chair
Minnesota No-Fault Standing Committee, Member
Minnesota No-Fault Arbitrator Panel
District Ethics Committee (2nd), Past Ethics Complaint Investigator
Civil Society, Past Board Member & Treasurer
Toastmasters Club, Past President and Vice-President of Marketing
A=RT (Art = Real Transformation), Past Board Member
Eau Claire County Bar Association, Past Treasurer (briefly before moving to Minneapolis)
American Association for Justice, Past Minority Caucus Representative for Wisconsin (briefly before moving to Minneapolis)
Memberships
Douglas K. Amdahl Inn of Court
State Bar of Wisconsin
Minnesota State Bar Association
Ramsey County Bar Association
Hennepin County Bar Association
Minnesota Defense Lawyers Association
Defense Research Institute
Washington County Bar Association, Past
Minnesota Association for Justice, Women for Justice Section, Past
American Association for Justice, Past
Wisconsin Association for Justice, Past
Eau Claire County Bar Association, Past
New York State Bar Association, Past
American Bar Association, Past
Awards/Recognitions:
Publications:
Anu Chudasama, “On Racial Equity: 26 Voices – The Power to Transform,” Wisconsin Lawyer, July/Aug. 2020.
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Anu Chudasama, “The Benefits of Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation and Keeping it in Evidence,” Minnesota Trial, Winter 2019.
Anu Chudasama, “Recovering Future Damages in the Face of an Increasing Risk of Future Injury that is Not More Likely Than Not to Occur,” Minnesota Trial, 2017/Winter 2018.
Education
Schulich School of Business, York University – International Bachelor of Business Administration (2001-2005)
University of Wisconsin Law School – Juris Doctorate (2007-10)
Personal
I was born to Indian parents in Bahrain in the Middle East. My family immigrated to Toronto, Canada, when I was 12, where I lived until I went to University of Wisconsin Law School. After practicing in Madison and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, I moved to Minneapolis. I stay active in the community by volunteering in different capacities, whether it is the Social Committee in my condo building or judging in the MSBA’s annual high school mock-trial competition. It is important to me to invest time in the legal community because it is one way in which I can give back to our honorable profession and because I care and want to help.
I love traveling and have been to 27 countries (I have lived in six of them). My husband, Jason, and I enjoy visiting breweries, patios, and going for walks by our home along the Stone Arch Bridge. We have fun visiting Jason’s parents’ cabin in Lake Holcombe, Wisconsin, because we get to play with our nieces and nephew, fish, and be on the water (or ice).
