Brian Rokke to retire - Rokke, Aandal and Associates welcomes Eliza Evans

By Barb Geer, 

Middle River Honker

Brian Rokke has served as a lawyer in this area for nearly forty years, most of that time spent in his own offices. About three years ago, he was approached by Don Aandal of Aandal and Associates when lawyer Mike Williams retired. Don was the County Attorney and needed someone to be the Assistant County Attorney, asking Brian to fill those shoes as well as becoming a partner in the law firm.

Looking toward retirement at the time, Brian knew that he would need an exit strategy with someone to take over his files. He accepted Don’s offer and the partnership began April 1, 2015. When Brian puts in his last day on March 30, just a short time away, he will have put in a full three years with the partnership.

Since that time, Rokke, Aandal and Associates have added two more lawyers to the staff. Robb Leach (about three years ago) and Eliza Evans (this year). It is Eliza who will cover Brian’s circuit in the area, while Robb works totally from the office in Warren.

Brian’s license runs through June of 2020, and in the interim, he is willing to be a lawyer “of council,” meaning that he can provide advice to attorneys but will have no direct contact with clients. Because of the continuing education requirements, he does not plan to renew his license after that date and will be totally done.

Brian has been in the area for a long time; so long, in fact, that many people think he grew up here. The Rokke name has long been associated with Newfolden because of his relatives there so the mistake is a logical one!

Brian grew up in Roosevelt, Minnesota, graduating from Roosevelt High School in 1969. While in high school, he participated in football, basketball and track. He’s also proud of becoming an Eagle Scout in 1965. An interesting bit of trivia…one of Brian’s classmates was Jesse Ventura.

Following high school, he attended Augsburg College in Minneapolis, graduating in 1973 with an Education Degree in Social Studies. While at Augsburg, Brian played soccer for four years. He was recruited the first year, and thus became a member of the first team in 1969. Though he had no previous experience in the sport, by the time he was a senior, he became a captain of the team.

He was a substitute teacher for a year and worked full time at a convenience store following graduation, making the decision that teaching was not for him. Brian decided to go back to school, heading to UND Law School, earning his degree in 1977. 

Brian spent a lot of time in Newfolden during his formative years, working on the farm with his uncles, and staying with Edgar, Olger and Nora. He eventually purchased that farm, which became a Century Farm in 2005. His parents grew up in rural Newfolden and his family often came for visits. He liked the area, so it’s no surprise that Brian decided to make this his home.

During Law School at UND, Brian clerked for Jaroslav Kruta in the summers, so after Law School, in the fall of 1977, it was an easy jump for Brian to join the Law Office of Jaroslav Kruta in Warren, Minnesota. Mr. Kruta also had offices in Newfolden and Middle River, which he would visit one day a week. Brian took over that route and also started going to Grygla one day a week about the same time. The first office in Middle River was located in the Collins Funeral Home building, then Mr. Kruta bought the Record Building, where the office was located for many years, and now it is located in the Border State Bank building. In the early 80s, Brian purchased the law office in Newfolden personally.

At one point, Brian worked as a Public Defender for three years in both Marshall and Kittson Counties. He really didn’t enjoy that kind of work, and gave it up easily.

Brian worked with Kruta Law Office until Thanksgiving of 1981, when Jaroslav suffered a stroke. Though he never spoke another word, Jaroslav lived about a year after the stroke. Mr. Rokke purchased the law firm in 1982 from the Kruta Guardianship. He was in sole practice until 2015 when he joined with Donald Aandal to form Rokke, Aandal and Associates, PLLC. 

Mr. Rokke has many years of experience in real estate, probate, estate planning, and business organizations. He has probated hundreds of estates and assisted thousands of buyers and sellers of real estate over his 40+ years of practice.

Brian’s retirement was one of the reasons he merged his practice with Aandal. He was hoping for a smooth transition from one lawyer to another and he is seeing that come to fruition.

Of the new environment in the partnership, Brian said that it’s nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of, something that he couldn’t do in all of his years of solo practice. It’s a busy place and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

Looking to the future, Brian says he has plenty to keep him busy. He has many projects around the house, the farm and plans to do volunteer work. Brian will find more time to work on his Minneapolis Moline tractors. He’s an avid collector, owning twelve of them and having restored six to date. They range in age from a 1936 model to a 1956 model. One is on loan to the Marshall County Historical Society and can be viewed in their building on the fairgrounds. He and his wife, Diane, plan to travel in the Southwest U.S. in April, visiting the Grand Canyon and the canyons of Utah. He will continue to sing with the Greater Middle River Community Choir and loves curling. He also hopes to get more time on the golf courses of the area. He likes to hunt deer and grouse and will make time for that, as well. He also does some fishing and attends arts events in the area.

Brian’s wife, Diane, is a Social Worker with Marshall County. Brian and Diane have three adult sons.

Nathan (29) attended the University of North Dakota, majoring in history. His love of archaeology, however, took him to western North Dakota, where he helped in the oil industry, figuring out where it was safe to put pipelines, etc. He also worked for an engineering firm in Bismarck that installs rural water. In 2016, Nathan was accepted to a graduate school in Oslo, Norway, to further his study of archaeology. The second year of that fellowship was spent in Iceland. Currently, he is at the University of Minnesota Crookston, getting his Natural Resources Management degree. He is getting married in October to Katie Hatt, who teaches CNA courses at the schools in Grand Forks and is a nurse at Altru.

Christopher (26) graduated from the University of North Dakota with a Communications Degree, but has been working in landscaping for a few years. He is currently applying to law schools, and with about five options, hopes to start in the fall. He is also getting married in June to Christine Moe, who is a science teacher.

Peter (23) graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth with degrees in Management Information Systems (Business and Technology). He’s living the single life in Minneapolis, working an IT job for United Health Care.

When asked to reflect upon his career, Brian said he chose law because of the classes he took in college. Reading Supreme Court cases sparked his interest. His degree in Social Studies gave him a good background for law.

Through the years, he has most enjoyed helping people get through not only hard times, but other transitions as well. Not everything is easy, however, and Brian lists his biggest frustrations as the difficulty of meeting deadlines and the ability to resolve issues in a timely manner. Many people are procrastinators, and that makes the job difficult.

Law, for Brian, has been a good fit. He said, “Thanks to everybody for their confidence in me as an attorney and for giving me a chance to help them with their legal issues. I’ll still be around, but not as an attorney!”

Welcome to Eliza Evans

Eliza Evans is no stranger to this area, either, having grown up in Malung and attended both Roseau and Warroad High Schools. She graduated from Warroad HS in 2009. She was a hockey player, and was also involved in volleyball, golf, track and cross country. She was a member of the National Honor Society.

4-H was a big part of Eliza’s life as she grew up, too, choosing projects with horses, turkeys, rabbits, the arts and baking. She credits 4-H for helping her become a well-rounded individual and said that she is an advocate for the organization to this day…hoping that readers of this article will encourage their children to join or to join themselves.

Eliza’s post-secondary education was all conducted at the University of North Dakota. She graduated from UND cum laude in 2014 with a double major in Psychology and Indian Studies. She then entered UND Law School, graduating in 2017, adding an Indian Law Certificate to her repertoire of accomplishments. She passed the bar in October of 2017.

Eliza was fortunate to find work clerking for Rokke, Aandal and Associates for three summers while in Law School. The firm gave her time off to study for the bar exam in the summer of 2017, and then offered her a job when she passed. She loves where she is and says she didn’t even look for other jobs! 

The opportunity to clerk summers actually came through a job Eliza had at the Marshall County Extension Office in the courthouse in Warren. County Auditor-Treasurer Scott Peters introduced her to Don Aandal. After a couple of months at the Extension Office, she started clerking at Aandal and Associates in the spring.

Eliza recently moved to Warren. She will be taking over Brian Rokke’s route, spending Mondays in Grygla, Tuesdays in Warren, Wednesdays in Middle River and Newfolden, and Thursdays and Fridays in Warren.

Eliza is the daughter of Leelan and Jane Evans. Dad Leelan has farmed but is now a customs officer at the border. Mom Jane is a nurse at the Hallock Hospital. She has two siblings; Joe (25) and Tabitha (23).

 Eliza is an outdoors person. She loves spending time at her parents’ farm in Malung, a farm that has been in the family for 127 years. They raise horses, and one of Eliza’s passions has been competing in rodeos. She started riding as a toddler and has been riding her whole life. She was a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and competed throughout the United States with that organization. She was crowned Miss Rodeo Minnesota in 2015, the First Lady of Professional Rodeo.

It was fun while it lasted, but that wasn’t the life that Eliza wanted forever. She now competes in Wojo’s Circuit, which is run out of Greenbush, Minnesota. Her events include barrel racing and break-away roping.

Eliza also loves hunting (deer, bear and coyote) and fishing on Lake of the Woods. She is a member of the Newfolden Rod & Gun Club and a past member of the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association. 

When asked why she chose to stay at the law office, Eliza was quick to reply that she likes the area, has always lived here and likes being near home. She is thankful to Brian for giving her the opportunity and says that she has been fortunate to be able to learn from him for the last couple of years.

She loves going to the other towns, says it’s a favorite part of her job, giving her the opportunity to meet different people. She gets to do a little of everything in law and likes the variety. Eliza says she has good people to work for and as clients.

Her biggest challenge, as she sees it is being the Assistant County Attorney, another job that has been passed down from Brian. “It’s touchy in a small community. The people you see in court are the people you see in the grocery store. You know them.” 

Another challenge for Eliza is stepping into Brian’s shoes. He has been in the area for so long and knows about things that have been done in the past. She says she has quite a learning curve, and worries that she can live up to his reputation. “People think highly of him (Brian). I look up to him, like a dad. It will be hard when he’s gone.”

Eliza has always wanted to be a lawyer. Even as a child, when others were changing the answer to “What would you like to be when you grow up?” question, her answer remained the same. She wanted to be a lawyer even before she knew what a lawyer actually did.

“I had big goals, big dreams, and I made it happen,” Eliza said. “It’s a good way to help a variety of people with many different things.”

She added, “I consider myself BLESSED with all the opportunities I have been given and to have a job waiting all through law school.”

Rokke, Aandal and Associates has already welcomed Eliza Evans to its ranks. Now it’s time for Marshall County to welcome her, as well.