As our newest partner, Katie brings extensive experience in guiding clients through the appellate process in state and federal courts.  Katie’s strategic forethought and creative advocacy enable clients to put their best arguments forward.  Katie serves as the Chair of the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section Council and as a member the Executive Board of the ABA’s Council of Appellate Lawyers. She also demonstrates her leadership through her deep commitment to providing pro bono legal services on issues of social justice and civil rights.  We celebrate Katie Barrett Wiik as a Woman Who Leads. 

A long-time partner, Mary is an accomplished and decorated estate planning attorney and a thought leader in our Private Wealth Planning Group. She leads as a rainmaker and client-whisperer whose success illustrates the power of an authentic, thoughtful, client-centric approach. Perhaps most importantly, Mary leads as a lawyer who has been successful by every measure but never fails to treat clients and colleagues with kindness and respect – her gracious and generous approach to her practice is an example that makes the rest of us better. For these reasons and more, we celebrate Mary Shearen as a Woman Who Leads.

She’s whip-smart and extraordinarily efficient, driven and grounded, engaged and interested in her work and her community.  An exceptional person, a gifted lawyer and the ideal teammate - Libby was a go-to resource when she joined us and quickly emerged as a leader on our business law team and in our associate recruitment and development efforts.  She’s made herself indispensable by consistently delivering thoughtful and strategic advice to clients and colleagues and she embodies the promise of the next generation of women leaders at Best & Flanagan.  For these reasons and more, we celebrate Libby Davydov as a Woman Who Leads.  

Sarah joined the firm as a summer associate, quickly became a star in the litigation section and served in various leadership posts on her way to being unanimously elected managing partner.  While her law firm leadership progression isn’t unusual, her authenticity is - Sarah’s the rare lawyer to successfully integrate her practice and management responsibilities into a big, beautiful life outside the law.  She leans into being a daughter and a traveler, a mother and a typewriter collector, a poet and a sister first and we see her lever the skills, patience, fortitude and wisdom earned in those pursuits to make herself a better, stronger and more relatable lawyer, leader and mentor.  She’s the best we’ve got and we’re thrilled to have her leading Team B&F.  For these reasons and more, we celebrate Sarah Crippen as a Woman Who Leads.