2026 State Bar Convention | June 24 - 26, 2026 Sessions

Wednesday 11:30 AM

Wednesday 1:00 PM

Speakers

• Todd Larson - EdD
  Todd Larson, EdD is the Director of the What You Do Matters (WYDM) Institute focused on training of criminal justice personnel across the United States. Prior to this role he was the Associate Vice President of Workplace and Public Safety for a large Arizona Hospital System. Prior to working in Healthcare, Todd retired from the Scottsdale (AZ) Police Department after 22 years of service. He spent the majority of his career investigating felony crimes within the Special Investigations Section, Violent Crimes Unit, Federal DEA Phoenix Task Force, and served over ten years on the Scottsdale Police Department SWAT Team as an operator, sniper, and team leader. Todd is a graduate of The Advisory Board's High Performing Leadership Fellowship and The Northwestern School of Police Staff and Command. Todd has authored several published articles involving police training, tourniquet research, TBI research, and healthcare technology. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Northern Arizona University, a Master’s Degree in Leadership with Emphasis in Crisis Management and Disaster Preparedness from Grand Canyon University, and a Doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Grand Canyon University.

Thursday 6:30 AM

Speakers

• David Barari
  David Barari has been an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Districts of South Dakota and North Dakota since 2022. He currently serves as the Chair of the Federal Practice Committee of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. Previously, he had a successful civil litigation practice in bad faith, workers’ compensation, and personal injury at the Goodsell + Oviatt Law Firm and served as a law clerk for the South Dakota Supreme Court. He lives in Rapid City with his wife, Molly.
• Meghann Joyce
  Meghann has practiced civil litigation in private practice for nearly 15 years and is experienced in a wide range of legal disputes, including trusts and estates litigation, employment law, construction disputes, and more. Meghann is a lifelong Yote and graduated both undergrad and law school from the University of South Dakota. She began her legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable Glen A. Severson of the South Dakota Supreme Court, where she gained invaluable insight into the appellate process—reviewing hundreds of briefs, assisting with oral arguments, and contributing to judicial opinions. In addition to her work representing clients, Meghann is also a trained mediator. Meghann and her husband Mark have three young, active children. Meghann has a lifelong passion for running and can often be found on the Sioux Falls trails.
• Timothy Rahn
  Tim Rahn is a seasoned attorney dedicated to guiding clients through a broad spectrum of business and commercial litigation and pre-litigation challenges. Tim advises manufacturing clients on complex disputes involving dealers and distributors, providing strategic guidance on the varied state laws that govern their industries. Tim also represents individuals and entities in shareholder and member disputes, where he frequently negotiates favorable buyout agreements and challenges unfavorable contractual provisions through targeted motion practice. Tim graduated undergrad from Bethel University and law school from Mitchell Hamline School of Law. He lives in Sioux Falls with his wife and young family.
• Kiira Weber
  Kiira Weber knows the private practice and in-house counsel worlds. After graduating undergrad from the University of Iowa and law school from the University of South Dakota, Kiira began her career as a regulatory and litigation attorney at Ballard Spahr, LLP. She then transitioned her career in-house as a Senior Contract Specialist at Raven Industries, where, among many other duties, she drafted and negotiated contracts and led the legal overview of OSHA, EPA issues, and international trade compliance. She is now Associate Legal Counsel at First PREMIER Bank PREMIER Bankcard, where her work also touches a vast array of legal topics, including contract review, regulatory review, negotiating contracts, advising the business on legal risk, and collaborating with outside counsel on litigation matters. Kiira lives in Flandreau with her husband Zach and two young children. She can be found watching, playing, or running kids to sports in her free time.

Thursday 8:30 AM

Speakers

• Steven Jensen - Chief Justice
  Chief Justice Steven R. Jensen was appointed to the South Dakota Supreme Court by Governor Dennis Daugaard on November 3, 2017. He was retained by the voters in the November 2020 general election. On January 5, 2021 Chief Justice Jensen began serving as Chief Justice after being elected by his colleagues on the Court to a four-year term. Prior to his appointment to the South Dakota Supreme Court, Chief Justice Jensen served as circuit judge for fourteen years and served as the circuit’s presiding judge for 7 of those years. Chief Justice Jensen was in private practice for fourteen years, specializing in employment and commercial litigation and clerked for Justice Richard W. Sabers on the South Dakota Supreme Court before entering private practice. He earned a BA in political science from Bethel University (1985) and his JD from the University of South Dakota School of Law (1988). Married, with three children.
• Thomas Frieberg
  Thomas H. Frieberg is a partner and 4th generation lawyer in the law firm of Frieberg, Nelson & Ask, LLP. Tom is a 1985 graduate of the University of South Dakota and graduated with honors from the University of Minnesota School of Law in 1988. Tom engages in a general small-town practice which includes estates and estate planning, real estate transactions, municipal representation, and income tax preparation. Tom serves as counsel to the State Bar Disciplinary Board along with his father Robert Frieberg. Tom has served on several State Bar Committees and has been on the Strategic Planning Committee since its inception. Tom has served 4 terms on the Bar Commission and was State Bar President in 2015-2016. Tom and his wife Jill reside in Beresford and have 4 adult children and a spoiled Goldendoodle.
• Pamela Reiter
  Pamela R. Reiter is the owner and founding partner of Reiter Law Firm Prof. LLC, located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Her practice focuses on civil litigation, including trust and estate litigation, business disputes and other complex litigation. Before opening her own firm in 2023, Pamela was a federal district court law clerk for nearly fourteen years. After clerking, Pamela joined Johnson, Janklow, Abdallah, & Reiter, LLP, in 2008, and became an owner in 2013. Pamela was sworn in as the South Dakota State Bar President on June 23, 2017, and served in that capacity until June 2018. She served a four-year term as a member of the State Bar's Disciplinary Board from 2013 to 2017. Pamela has been appointed to several committees, including the Continuing Legal Education Committee, Lawyer Referral Committee, and served as the Chair of the Law School Committee for more than a decade. Her professional memberships include the American Bar Association and the South Dakota Trial Lawyers Association.She received a bachelor's degree in Accounting and Management from Northern State University in Aberdeen, South Dakota, graduating summa cum laude. She also graduated summa cum laude and first in her class from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1994.
• Jason Sutton
  Jason Sutton is a litigation partner at Boyce Law Firm, LLP. Jason attended law school at the University of Nebraska College of Law, and after law school, he clerked for 2 years for Judge Karen E. Schreier of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. For nearly 19 years, Jason has practiced at Boyce Law Firm representing clients in a broad range of civil litigation matters in both state and federal courts in South Dakota, as well as before various administrative agencies. As part of his practice, Jason has extensive experience representing clients in litigation involving trusts, estates, and business entity disputes. Jason also has extensive experience defending lawyers in legal malpractice cases in South Dakota.

Thursday 8:30 AM

Speakers

• Rachelle Norberg
• Jeffery Tronvold
• David Wheeler - Judge
• Cameo Anders
• Michelle Snyders
• Amanda Sedlacek
• Michael Sharp
• Scott Wilson
• Jody Gillaspie

Wednesday 4:30 PM

Wednesday 6:30 PM

Thursday 1:30 PM

Speakers

• Mary Beth Beazley
  Mary Beth Beazley has taught legal writing for 40 years. She joined Boyd’s faculty in 2017, and she also serves as a member of the faculty of the National Judicial College. She has held numerous leadership positions in legal education, including President of the Legal Writing Institute, Chair of the ABA’s Communication Skills Committee, and President of the Association of Legal Writing Directors. Her previous academic appointments include faculty positions at Vermont Law School, the University of Toledo, and The Ohio State University College of Law, where she taught legal writing for 29 years. Professor Beazley is the author of the text A Practical Guide to Appellate Advocacy and co-author, with Dean Monte Smith, of Briefs and Beyond: Persuasive Legal Writing and of Legal Writing for Legal Readers: Predictive Writing for First-Year Students. She also contributed a chapter to the compilation The Law of Harry Potter, and she believes that she wrote the first law review article that quoted Hogwarts student Parvati Patil. Her current scholarship focuses on (1) equality issues in legal education, (2) behavioral aspects of legal writing and legal reading, and (3) the impact that digital platforms have on cognitive aspects of legal reading.
• Rhonda Beazley
  Ronda Muir, founder and principal of Law People Management LLC, is one of the country’s leading authorities on lawyer personalities and the use of behavioral science in the practice of law. Drawing from her experience as a lawyer in New York Big Law and in Europe as inside counsel, she offers business-savvy, psychologically sophisticated and real-world solutions to traditional and emerging challenges unique to the legal industry and its professionals. Muir’s book Beyond Smart: Lawyering with Emotional Intelligence, an American Bar Association bestseller, is the first and only comprehensive guide to understanding, using and raising emotional intelligence in the practice of law. The recently released second edition reflects breaking research addressing, among other issues, increased disengagement, fallout from the Covid pandemic, the challenges of AI, and the advantages that emotional intelligence brings to 21st century lawyers and legal workplaces