Professor Peter Thompson had a wonderful and profound impact on my experience in law school. While he was a soft-spoken teacher, he consistently provided each student with the sharp challenge in class to be prepared, advocate for one’s own position (whether supported by applicable law and well developed analysis or not) and to develop as a law student and lawyer. His depth of knowledge and renown as an expert on evidence and Minnesota evidence specifically, brought him objective credibility but his respectful yet rigorous approach created a deep respect among his students and me in particular. However, with all of this academic and subject matter expertise and exemplary teaching method, the most profound and distinct memory that I have of Professor Thompson is one of personal integrity and ethics while still zealously advocating for one’s client. One day in class, after a typically well-formed question was met with a challenging student response driven by a quandary of what to do when one has knowledge of evidence of a client’s wrong doing, Professor Thompson replied (and I paraphrase) “Remember that in law as in life, difficult situations will arise in which others will ask and encourage you to do what you know is not right. When that situation arises, I recommend you live by the mantra, if you must, let your client go to jail, you go to lunch.” While I have never practiced criminal law, this is an often-used guiding policy I have found.
Scott Bergs ’98 (HUSL)