Minnesota lost one of the "towering figures" of its legal community with the recent passing of Robert F. Henson, a founding partner of the Minneapolis law firm Henson & Efron.
Henson, born in Jenny Lind, Ark., died June 23 in Minneapolis at the age of 87. Friends and colleagues remembered him for his disarming Southern manner and his strict adherence to ethics and honesty.
"I sort of learned the art of being a trial lawyer from him," recalled Richard Solum, a retired Hennepin County District Court judge and former partner who went to work with Henson in 1969. He said Henson could defuse the most adversarial tensions in a dispute by offering a moderate assessment that picked up the best of both sides.
Over time, Henson's legal practice evolved from business and commercial litigation to the dicey arena of family law.
"I've known lawyers that were on the other side of Bob and I've known some husbands on the other side of Bob's client, the wife, and you would never hear anybody, even in that arena, speak ill of him," Solum said.
He said Henson had a sort of "raw honesty" that could not be compromised and recalled an incident in which an important client had balked at turning over some documents in a significant lawsuit.
"And Henson, rather than trying to figure out ways to compromise the issue or otherwise accommodate the client, simply said, 'We're going to turn them over or you can find another lawyer,'" Solum said. "He just did everything the right way."
After high school, Henson joined the Navy. Jean Peterson, his future wife of nearly 60 years, led him to her hometown of Minneapolis, where he attended the University of Minnesota and later, its law school, where he graduated third in his class in 1950.
