End of an Era – John H. Bradshaw

It’s with his blessing and with a very heavy heart that I am here to notify you that John entered hospice this week.  He isn’t in pain,  but as he says “the old ticker isn’t what it was.”

I was a law school grad waiting for my bar results when I met John for lunch at Valley Inn in Eden Valley in 1991.  He needed a lawyer with 2 to 3 years experience.  I needed a job. I promised him 5 years of work.  In 1992 , Bradshaw and Bryant was started and we opened a branch in St Cloud in April of 1994.   In 1999 Eden Valley was closed and John sort of retired in 2004.  In 2014 tragedy struck and Joan, his wife, was lost to us.   He started to come back in to help with reviewing files and being around a couple of times a week. Covid put us in pods and John would stop in from time to time. Last couple of years, it was weekly calls and check in.

Over the years he helped train many young lawyers and staff members.   He would lend sage advice on civil and criminal cases.  We shared laughs and tears.  He voiced a radio commercial,  was honored for his leadership work with the Minnesota Trial Lawyers,  MTLA (now MAJ), would occasionally show up in the St Cloud Times for Speeding, and was always a delight to see running around in his shorts no matter the weather.

We shared time this week talking about his last trial wins, cases we worked on together, and how he ran into so many of you that he had had the honor of working for.  John was a true Trial Lawyer who loved to be a part of the fight.

No doubt when he does close out, St. Peter will have people at the door, waiting for John to help them get in.