Ann Rainhart, leader of the Strategic Coalition of Law Firms talks downtown Minneapolis - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal - The Business Journals
Nearly 20 major law firms with offices in downtown Minneapolis formed a working group back in 2020 to help each other navigate the pandemic, and now they're on a new mission: Revive downtown.
Ann Rainhart and Julie Henson, chief strategy officer and chief client officer, respectively, for Taft Stettinius & Hollister, cofounded the Strategic Coalition of Law Firms in October 2020. Both work in the firm's Minneapolis office.
The coalition isn't a formal group, but it has enough structure to provide a forum for the firms' executives to talk about best practices on returning to the office, engage with other downtown Minneapolis stakeholders about the future of downtown and champion the reanimation of downtown, since members of the group believe a vibrant central business district is essential.
Rainhart and Henson recently spoke to the Business Journal about the group, its future and why downtown is so important. This is an edited version of that conversation.
How would you describe what the coalition does?
Rainhart: Conversation-wise, primarily it’s a group of the leaders; we meet about every month now to share things around the pandemicNow we’re talking about how we work in hybrid ways and engage in the workplace. We stay away from compensation, lateral moves and mergers. We reached out and talked to some of the consulting firms, accounting firms and real estate brokers, too. We've done panels on downtown. We spent some time reaching out to the Downtown Improvement District and the Downtown Council and understanding the dynamics and players downtown. We felt it was important to be supportive of the arts community, particularly the Guthrie and the Orchestra. We also see this continuing.
Taft and most of the big firms downtown had fantastic 2021 fiscal years while working mostly remote. Why is downtown so important then?
Rainhart: I think for each one of these firms, space and place remains important. Being a part of a community remains important. Even as law firms' strategies have evolved in that we're never all going back five days a week, every one of these lawyers have talked about the importance of community, of mentoring and having random conversations in the skyway. That’s worth fighting for.
What's something concrete or tangible that has come from this coalition?
Henson: The collective voice of downtown law firms is now a thing. Typically, the Downtown Council would go to a firm here or there to share or get information. Now they can just come to me and Ann, who lead this coalition, and we'll share the information with our other partners.
The coalition did not take a stance on the defund the police movement. Why not? It certainly would've shaped at least the perception of Minneapolis and downtown?
Henson: I think that with an issue as sensitive as that, every firm, every lawyer, every employee had opinions and thoughts that might not all align. Because of the seriousness of the subject, and we have relationships with Twin Cities Diversity in Practice, we weren't in a position to make a statement. If a firm wanted to do it solo, they were free to do so.
Participating firms:
Cozen O’Connor
Dorsey & Whitney
Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
Felhaber Larson
Fish & Richardson
Fox Rothchild
Fredrikson & Byron
Jones Day
Lathrop GPM
Littler Mendelson
Maslon
Merchant & Gould
Moss & Barnett
Nilan Johnson
Robins Kaplan
Stoel Rives
Stinson
Taft Stettinius & Hollister
Winthrop & Weinstine
Largest Law Firms in the Twin Cities
Ranked by Metro-area attorneys as of Nov. 1, 2021
| Rank | Name | Metro-area attorneys as of Nov. 1, 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fredrikson & Byron | 277 |
| 2 | Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath | 255 |
| 3 | Dorsey & Whitney | 208 |
| View This List | ||
source: https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2022/03/31/leaders-of-coalition-of-minneapolis-law-firms.html
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