On March 14 the Iowa Civil Justice Task Force released recommendations for reforming the state’s civil justice system, including a recommendation to establish specialized “business courts.” Before Iowa can launch a business court system, however, two important issues must be addressed.

The United States Supreme Court recently heard arguments in Sackett v. EPA, which in its simplest form pits individual residential landowners against the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) in a battle over some Idaho dirt. The battle involves a complicated statutory scheme of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”) which protects wetlands from development.

U.S. News Media Group and Best Lawyers® have released the 2011-2012 “Best Law Firms” rankings, and once again Dickinson, Mackaman, Tyler & Hagen, P.C. is well represented in the rankings for the Des Moines metropolitan area, having received Tier 1 rankings in 19 areas of law.

Twelve attorneys from Dickinson, Mackaman, Tyler & Hagen, P.C. were selected by their legal industry peers for inclusion in 15 areas of law in the recently-released 2012 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® (Copyright 2011 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.).

The just released 2011 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business features 12 Dickinson attorneys, including Howard Hagen, who was the only Iowa attorney to be named a “Star Individual” in the area of Banking & Finance.