Last week, The Get Down Coffee Company and North Market in partnership with Houston White hosted a summer marketplace in Camdentown, where the community gathered to share ideas, build relationships, and celebrate the future of this North Minneapolis neighborhood. Taft attorneys Marquis Tapplin and Scott Rusert, and paralegal Nancy Neibergs, were pleased to present Houston White’s organization, the Mixtape Strategy, with a $20,000 donation in support of revitalizing the neighborhood.

Houston White is a designer, entrepreneur, author, community leader, and head of Houston White Enterprises. His organization, the Mixtape Strategy, has a strong focus on rebuilding businesses in Camdentown to, “be a place of Black joy, vibrance, ownership, futurism,” says White.

Read more about Houston White’s enterprises, his vision, and Camdentown here.

Rusert is a partner in Taft’s Commercial Litigation and Compliance, Investigations, and White Collar Defense practices. He is the current Chair of the state Civil Trial Specialist Certification Board and recent past Chair of the MSBA Civil Litigation Section. In his more than 30 years of practice, Rusert has been lead counsel on matters in state and federal courts in a total of 36 states and tried cases to verdict on behalf of both defendants and plaintiffs in state and federal courts in Minnesota and nationwide.

Tapplin is a member of Taft’s Finance group and was a summer associate with Taft before graduating from law school. He helps both lenders and borrowers achieve their goals through various middle-market financing transactions. In addition, Tapplin is an adjunct professor at Mitchell Hamline teaching Transactions and Settlements, as well as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Paralegal Program at North Hennepin Community College.

Neibergs is a paralegal in the litigation practice. She has extensive experience in all phases of litigation ranging from initial investigation and claims analysis to post-trial and appellate briefing. She has worked on a variety of cases including contract disputes, regulatory analysis and enforcement, garnishments, bankruptcies, and on both sides of insurance coverage litigation.