Minnesota Lawyer recently announced that shareholder Steve DeRuyter is one of 15 lawyers throughout the state to be named “Attorneys of the Year.” Steve was honored for his transactional work representing Midwest Wireless during its recent billion-dollar merger with Alltel Corp.

“Attorney of the Year” nominees had to meet any of the following criteria:

• procuring a successful result in an important case or business transaction;
• exercising leadership in the profession;
• participating in newsworthy events in the legal community;
• performing significant service for the bar or general public; and/or
• excellence in providing in-house legal services.

“We received many excellent nominations this year and had a difficult choice,” the Minnesota Lawyer editorial team wrote in a news release announcing the winners. “The 15 honorees we selected have distinguished themselves in diverse disciplines representative of the wide range of services provided by lawyers. Each of these individuals stood out from the crowd in 2005 in a way worthy of recognition.”

Steve will be profiled in a special section of Minnesota Lawyer to be published Feb. 27.