Margaret Cronin is a shareholder in the firm’s Estate Planning practice. She represents families of wealth, private charitable foundations, closely-held businesses and entrepreneurs, focusing on estate and charitable planning, cabin succession planning and managing enterprise growth, from formation and partnership development to succession planning. Margaret strives to be a strategic partner to her clients, assisting them in evaluating and pursuing legal strategies that meet their business, wealth transfer and philanthropic goals.

Margaret has obtained a Certificate in Family Business Advising from the Family Firm Institute™, an international professional organization dedicated to providing interdisciplinary education for family business advisors. Her experience within the local, national and international family business community has been useful in family and business governance as well as multi-generational wealth transfer.

An active participant in the Twin Cities business and educational community, Margaret was a founding member of the Board of Directors of Women Entrepreneurs of Minnesota (WeMN), an organization dedicated to the support, education and growth of women-owned businesses, and currently serves on WeMN’s Honorary Board. She is a member of the Board of Advisors of the University of St. Thomas Family Business Center and a member of the University of St. Thomas Family Business Advisors Network. She is chair of the Advisor’s Public Policy Task Force of Family Enterprise USA, an organization whose mission is to raise public awareness of public policy initiatives impacting family businesses. She is also co-chair of the Minnesota ND Women Connect Chapter through the University of Notre Dame Alumni Association. Inside and outside of the office, Margaret participates in nonprofit activities that promote community-building and social entrepreneurship.

Professional and Civic Activities

• American Bar Association, Probate and Real Property, Tax Sections
• Minnesota State Bar Association, Estate Planning and Real Property Sections
• Hennepin County Bar Association
• Family Firm Institute
• Founding member, Board of Directors, Women Entrepreneurs of Minnesota
• Board of Advisors, University of St. Thomas Family Business Center
• University of St. Thomas Family Business Advisors Network
• Chair, Minnesota ND Women Connect Chapter, University of Notre Dame Alumni Association

Publications and Presentations

• “Your Lake Home Legacy: Planning for the Future of Lake Properties,” sponsored by the Initiative Foundation and Center for Lifelong Learning, August 2012
• “Business Succession Planning: A Roadmap,” copresented with David Naples, University of Minnesota Super CLE Week, March 2012
• “Buy-Sell Agreements and the Family Business,” University of St. Thomas Family Business Ownership Academy, November 2011
• “Money and the Family Business,” University of St. Thomas Family Business Center Advisor’s Group, November 2011
• Margaret co-authored “Mediating and Addressing Family Conflict in Elder Estate Planning and Probate Disputes,” The Hennepin Lawyer Vol. 80, No. 5, May 2011
• “Building Trust in Advising Family Businesses,” Family Business and Social Capital, 2010
• “Your Cabin. Your Family. Your Legacy. A Guide to Cabin Succession Planning in Minnesota.” 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 
• “When Supervised Visitation is in the Best Interests of the Child,” Family Law Quarterly, 1996
• “Should the Commerce Clause Pull the Plug on Environmental Externalities,” Minnesota Law Review, 1996 

Education

• J. D., magna cum laude, University of Minnesota Law School
• B. A., High Honors, University of Notre Dame

Admissions

• State of Minnesota