Gene R. Bushnell graduated from the University of South Dakota with a Bachelor of Arts degree.  He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Scholastics Honorary Group.  He served as an ROTC officer in the Signal Corp of the United States Army.  After his military service, he graduated from the George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C., with a J.D. with honors.

Gene served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota.  He primarily handled tort claims against the United States.  He also conducted criminal prosecutions and handled appeals for the United States in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Gene’s primary focus has been as a trial lawyer with Costello Porter Law Firm, with the primary emphasis on civil litigation, commercial disputes, personal injury claims, insurance related matters and the defense of professionals.  He has extensive experience with jury trials, mediations and arbitrations.

His professional memberships include the State Bar of South Dakota, the South Dakota Trial Lawyers Association, the International Association of Defense Counsel, the American Bar Association, the Defense Research Institute, the American Board of Trial Advocates (Advocate), the South Dakota Defense Lawyers Association and the International Society of Barristers.  He will serve as a mediator or arbitrator for pre-suit or in suit cases.

He is admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the District of South Dakota, the United States Court of Appeal for the Seventh Circuit and the Eighth Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States.

In Gene’s personal life, he is married, has one son, two daughters and four grandchildren.