As an undergraduate student, at the University of Tennessee,  Randy Hopper double-majored in Pre-Med and Psychology, with the intention of becoming a neurosurgeon. Along the way, through a curious twist away from medicine, Mr. Hopper worked in the deep south, building homes for those in poverty and truly in need of housing. It was during this time he became profoundly influenced by the civil rights movement and keenly aware of social justice issues. Mr. Hopper’s mother had said to him “you will become a surgeon or a trial lawyer.” After graduation from college and standing at the fork in the road, Mr. Hopper never took the MED-CATS, never applied to medical school and went on to study public policy at the University of Minnesota, ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and then proving his mother right by going to law school to become a trial lawyer.

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After finishing graduate school, but before law school, Mr. Hopper worked in Corporate Public Affairs and Government Relations at Cummins Engine Company and later, served Governor Al Quie on a state-wide economic development project for entrepreneurs.

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As a founding partner at Zimmerman Reed and during his over 20 years there, Mr. Hopper drove the firm's litigation practice. Through his nearly a 33-year legal career, Mr. Hopper has practiced in complex litigation and class actions, including the national tobacco litigation, the largest case in U.S. history, reaching a settlement of $247B. He also worked on many of the largest mass tort, defective drug and defective medical device cases, antitrust cases, and environmental toxic tort cases.  In addition to his work as a trial lawyer, Mr. Hopper has also had a long career working in Washington, DC in federal government relations. 

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Mr. Hopper’s cases have been featured on Court TV and other major national and local media. In that regard, he has been interviewed and appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, ABC’s 20-20, The CBS Early Show, CNN, CNBC, Larry King Live, The Dan Abrams Show, FOX TV, On The Record with Greta Van Susteren, National Public Radio, and he has been featured in numerous local media in the Twin Cities.

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For nearly 40 years, Mr. Hopper has fought for civil rights and social justice in Harlem and the South Bronx in NYC, Atlanta and in Minneapolis|St Paul; represented diverse populations, ethnic minorities and people of color in class actions such as in the landmark Metro Gang Strike Force case; and, fought for the rights of all people who have been wrongfully injured or killed, including those with traumatic brain injury, paralysis due to spinal cord injury and those who have become affected by brain cancer, brain tumors and neurodegenerative diseases.

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Over the past ten years, Mr. Hopper has shifted his focus to cases involving traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injuries, neurodegenerative disease and brain tumors, through the integration of law and neuroscience. Through this work, Mr. Hopper has become a national leader in this emerging field.  He is on the faculty and teaches this course at the University of Minnesota Law School and consults with the Dept. of Neurosurgery at the U of M Medical School. He is also a member the advisory board of the Harvard Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior. Mr. Hopper confided that it is with “great satisfaction that I have been able to merge my long-term interest in the brain and in neuroscience with the law, in an effort to help people struggling with these  often life threatening problems…how fortunate am I?“

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Mr. Hopper has received an AV (highest) rating from Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, the premier peer review rating system for attorneys in the U.S., which is an objective indicator of a lawyer’s high ethical standards and professional ability.

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