Emeritus Professor of Law
“By studying family law, students address the role our government plays in creating policy that balances the rights of the individuals and families with the rights of society.”
Education
B.S., Mankato State University
M.A., St. Thomas University
J.D., Hamline University School of Law
LL.M., New York University School of Law
Biography
As a former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, Professor Len Biernat links the legal curriculum he teaches with actual law making. He is committed to giving students exposure to the impact the law and law making has on individual lives. He has served as a member of the Supreme Court Task Force on Visitation and Support and is a past member of a Task Force on Parental Cooperation. Biernat also served as a member of the Minneapolis Board of Education from 1990-97.
Biernat has authored several major bills that have become Minnesota laws. He has served on the ad hoc committee of ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct and has chaired continuing legal education programs in family law, school law, legal education, and lawyer competency. Biernat is coauthor of Legal Ethics for Management and Their Counsel, published by Lexis Law Publishing, and he wrote a chapter on the federal role in education in Federal Administrative Practice published by West Law Publishing. He also wrote the chapter, “Increasing the School Year for Some, But Not All, Children: Barriers to Extending the School Year,” in OUR PROMISE: ACHIEVING EDUCATIONAL EQUALITY FOR AMERICA’S CHILDREN (Maurice R. Dyson and Daniel B. Weddle eds., 2009).
Biernat teaches in the areas of Family Law, Professional Responsibility, Property, and Education Law. He also has developed and teaches a course in Professional Responsibility that is entirely online.
Biernat was a member of the first graduating class of Hamline University School of Law.
