Recognized in 2007 as Attorney of the Year by Minnesota Lawyer magazine, Dan Oberdorfer is experienced at litigating and counseling in the area of complex employment disputes. He frequently prosecutes and defends cases involving non-competition agreements, trade secrets and fiduciary duties. An MSBA Certified Labor and Employment Law Specialist, he has defended numerous employers against claims of sexual harassment, age discrimination, gender, race and religious discrimination, defamation and breach of contract, among others. In addition, he represents financial services firms in employment and customer disputes, frequently through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration process.

Dan is the co-chair of Leonard, Street and Deinard’s Electronic Discovery (eDiscovery) Response and Legal Team, which helps firm clients on a full range of electronic discovery and evidence issues. The team provides strategic advice and technical assistance on such issues as how to discover the electronic documents an opponent wants to hide, when and how to satisfy a corporation’s obligation to preserve electronic documents, and the cost-effective use of vendors and experts. Dan’s and his colleagues’ efforts uncovering hidden electronic evidence has been critical to the success of multiple lawsuits, including the Pioneer Press case.

Before practicing law, Dan was a prize-winning journalist for the Minneapolis StarTribune for 12 years, where he covered the courts and legal affairs. He was a regular contributor to the National Law Journal and a monthly columnist on Minnesota appellate court decisions. He frequently assists on crisis communication issues.

Dan clerked for the Honorable Donald P. Lay of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit prior to entering private practice. 

Professional and Civic Activities

• Chair, Minnesota State Bar Association, Bar-Media Committee (which acts as a bridge between the bar and the media), 2000-2002
• Chair, Minnesota State Bar Association, Fair Response Committee (which helps the State Bar Association evaluate and respond to criticism of judges in the media), 2007 to present (member since 2005)

Representative Experience

Dan received the 2007 Attorney of the Year award, along with fellow Leonard, Street and Deinard shareholder Dominic Cecere, from Minnesota Lawyer for his work leading a team of litigators in the St. Paul Pioneer Press’ highly successful non-competition and trade secret lawsuit against the Minneapolis Star Tribune and certain key executives. The team was successful in securing a ruling from the court ordering the Star Tribune’s publisher, Par Ridder, to cease work at the Star Tribune for one year based on a evidence that he violated Minnesota trade secret law.

Dan and his colleagues also secured an earlier order from the court that directed the Star Tribune to give the Pioneer Press’ computer expert access to the Star Tribune servers as well as more than ten home and business computer hard drives. These computer files netted evidence supporting the one-year injunction.

The groundbreaking lawsuit received national news media attention, with stories appearing in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Washington Post, among others. In its annual column on the top industry stories, Editor and Publisher listed the Pioneer Press lawsuit and related events as the Number 5 top newspaper story in the nation in 2007.

Dan is an author or co-author of numerous professional publications, including:

• Thomson-West’s Employment, a hard-cover treatise published in 2003 in West’s Legal Forms series and the book’s 2004 to 2008 pocket parts.
• Annual Minnesota Employment Defamation and Privacy Surveys, published by the Media Law Resource Center.
• A book chapter, "False Statements in a Business Context: Business Defamation, Product Disparagement & False Advertising," published in 2008 by the Minnesota CLE in its Minnesota Business Torts Deskbook.
• A Summary Guide to Discrimination Claims, published by Minnesota CLE in June 2007.

Education

• J.D., magna cum laude, University of Minnesota Law School, 1992
       Order of the Coif
       Editor in chief, Minnesota Law Review, 1991-1992.
• B.A., University of Michigan, 1979

 Admissions

• State of Minnesota, 1993