News
Holmstrom Named 2025 South Dakota Defense Lawyers Association Rising Star
The 2025 South Dakota Defense Lawyers Association (SDDLA) Awards were held November 13. The SDDLA Associate Lawyer Award (Rising Star) was awarded to Alayna A. Holmstrom, of Davenport, Evans, Hurwitz & Smith, LLP in Sioux Falls. The SDDLA Associate Lawyer Award...
Commercial Loan Workouts: Balancing Legal Remedies and Relationship Banking
As interest rates and operating costs remain high, more commercial borrowers are showing signs of financial stress. For community and regional banks, a well-managed loan workout can preserve both the customer relationship and the bank’s legal rights. Early...
The Estate Planning Impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
As published in the Independent Community Bankers of South Dakota quarterly magazine The Bottom Line, Volume 4 | 2025. Sign up for ICBSD e-news here. It is a commonplace that death and taxes are life’s two certainties. Recently, however, the intersection of the...
Right to Religious Expression Expands in the Federal Workplace
On July 28, 2025, the Trump administration issued a memorandum to all heads and acting heads of federal government departments and agencies related to the protection and enforcement of religious expression by federal workers. The memo, entitled “Protecting Religious...
Davenport Evans Welcomes Anthony O. Metzgar
Davenport, Evans, Hurwitz & Smith, LLP is pleased to announce the addition of a new attorney, Anthony O. Metzgar, to the firm. Tony Metzgar is a litigation attorney at Davenport Evans. Originally from Elk Point, South Dakota, Tony joined the firm in 2025, having...
Federal Bank Regulators “Flip” on Crypto
On July 14, 2025, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) released new guidance for banks seeking to provide safekeeping services relating...
Best Lawyers® 2026 Recognizes 18 Davenport Evans Lawyers
Davenport, Evans, Hurwitz & Smith, LLP in Sioux Falls, SD is pleased to announce that 18 Davenport Evans lawyers were listed in Best Lawyers® 2026 for South Dakota, in 22 different practice areas. The following three Davenport Evans lawyers were named 2026 Best...
Trademark Protection: What’s in a Name? Everything.
One consequence of the internet age is far more businesses have an interstate reach through their websites and social media. In the past one bank could operate with a name in South Dakota, and another could operate with the same name somewhere on the coast, all...
Charles Gullickson Selected to SDSU 2025 Distinguished Alumni
The following article, written by Dave Graves, is shared courtesy of South Dakota State University. Three women in wide-ranging leadership positions and three men with extensive legal careers comprise the six graduates who have risen to the top of their fields and...
Enforcement Actions Highlight Danger of Profits Over BSA Compliance
As published in the Independent Community Bankers of South Dakota quarterly magazine The Bottom Line, Volume 2 | 2025. Sign up for ICBSD e-news here. In recent years there have been a number of high-dollar penalties imposed by regulators in connection with the Bank...
Disparate Impact: Trump’s Executive Order Could Have Far-Reaching Implications
In April of 2025, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Order (“EO”) titled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy.” The EO directed federal agencies to “eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in all contexts to the maximum degree possible.”...
SCOTUS Overturns Heightened Standard for “Reverse Discrimination” Claims in Employment
On June 5, 2025, the United States Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision holding plaintiffs, alleging what some refer to as “reverse discrimination”, are no longer required to meet a heightened evidentiary standard just because they are within a “majority...
SiouxFalls.Business: Associate attorney enjoys role’s variety, advocating for others
Davenport Evans associate attorney Connor R. Shaull was featured as June 2025 Up-and-Comer on Jodi Schwan’s website SiouxFalls.Business. Read on for the article, written in a Q&A format. This article shared courtesy of SiouxFalls.Business. This week’s Up-and-Comer...
Davenport Evans Lawyers Ranked Tier One by Chambers 2025
Lawyers from Davenport, Evans, Hurwitz & Smith LLP in Sioux Falls, SD have again been ranked Tier One by Chambers USA. In South Dakota, rankings are given in five categories: Corporate/Commercial Law, Corporate/Commercial: Bankruptcy/Restructuring, Labor &...
Banking Highlights from the 2025 South Dakota Legislative Session
Most legislation passed in South Dakota takes effect on the following July 1, unless it has an emergency clause or has specific other effective dates in the enacting language. The 2025 legislature adopted, and Governor Rhoden signed, some bills of interest to...
Recent ICE Raids Highlight the Importance of I-9s
Nationwide, the Trump Administration’s efforts to find and deport undocumented immigrants have dominated the news. These deportations are also being enforced here in South Dakota. On May 13, 2025, in Madison, South Dakota, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement...
Davenport Evans Welcomes 2025 Summer Associates
Davenport Evans is pleased to welcome its 2025 summer associate class, (as shown, left to right:) Jacob J. Howard, Kate J. Sargent, and Julianne M. Severson. Davenport Evans has a long history of hiring law students who participate in the firm’s summer associate...
From Caution to Confidence: Regulators Change Course on Crypto Banking
Under the new presidential administration, this spring has brought about a number of significant regulatory changes for banks. One such sea change has been the federal bank regulators’ approach to banks engaging in crypto services and other digital asset activities....
Announcing 2025 Davenport Evans Scholarship Recipients
Davenport Evans has announced its 2025 scholarship recipients. For over 35 years, the firm has awarded eight annual scholarships totaling $20,000 to be used at institutions of higher learning in the state of South Dakota. Scholarships are awarded through the Sioux...
Howard Wood Relays at 100 – Davenport Memories
May 2-3 marks the 100th running of the Howard Wood Dakota Relays in Sioux Falls! In his welcome on www.dakotarelays.com, Howard Wood Relays Board President Scott Fiedler states, “Yes, 100 of anything is a milestone and the work that the Board of Directors do to...
SD Supreme Court Addresses Employee v. Independent Contractor Distinction
In Black Hills Adventure Lodging, LLC v. South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation, 2025 S.D. 4, the South Dakota Supreme Court took up the issue of whether a cleaner for a property management company was an employee or independent contractor for purposes of...
Are English-Only Policies in the Workplace Permitted?
Virtually everyone needs to communicate for their job, either with other employees, or supervisors, or with customers, and oftentimes with all of the above. Questions occasionally arise concerning the extent to which employers can weigh in on the way employees speak,...
The Fight to Keep “Uniform” in the Uniform Commercial Code
During the 2025 session of the South Dakota legislature, yet another bill was proposed to adopt non-uniform amendments to South Dakota’s version of the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”). As most bankers know, the UCC is a set of commercial laws governing multiple...
More Thoughts on Buying and Selling Loan Participations
Buying and selling loan participations have long been common in the banking business. As the seller of loan participations, a bank may use the practice as a tool for complying with legal lending limits or internally imposed loan limits. Whether as a buyer or seller, a...