Minnesota Lawyer
Photo by Bill Klotz
The image that comes into Minneapolis attorney Jeffrey S. Sieben’s mind when he thinks of taking on a new personal injury client is of a harried-looking person sitting at the kitchen table with big piles of bills and claim forms scattered about.
It’s no figment of Sieben’s imagination, but a scene he has come across time and time again as he goes into the homes of injured individuals to help them deal with their health and financial concerns. One of his favorite parts of his job is seeing the relieved faces as he assures his clients that he will help them.
Sieben is in many ways doing the work he was born to do. A third-generation attorney in his family, he works at Sieben, Grose, Von Holtum & Carey, where he practices with his father, Harry A. Sieben Jr., one of the Twin Cities’ leading personal injury litigators. Jeffrey is also the nephew of powerhouse personal injury attorney William R. Sieben, who practices down the street at Schwebel, Goetz & Sieben.
It’s quite a legacy for a young lawyer to live up to.
Sieben wasn’t always sure he wanted to be a lawyer. After graduating from law school, he did a stint teaching English in South America. In fact, it was from the fulfillment he got helping people that he decided to become a lawyer.
Not long after graduating law school in 2001, he decided to try his hand at politics, launching a campaign for a seat in the Minnesota House. Although he lost after a hard-fought campaign, it was an excellent learning experience that allowed him to make some valuable contacts in the community and the DFL.
Working at the busy firm, Sieben gets a chance to do something that young lawyers don’t always get to do anymore — try cases. “We are actually encouraged to do that here,” he says.
Sieben has already tried nine cases, receiving a verdict of $790,000 in one of them. He was also co-counsel in a case that resulted in a $1 million verdict, and has worked on other million-dollar cases for the firm.
The lawsuit that netted the $790,000 verdict was brought by a bricklayer who was seriously injured in a car accident. (The man’s insurer refused to pay the full $100,000 limits of his underinsurance coverage, necessitating the suit.) The case came to the firm through one of the labor contacts Sieben made while he was running for the House seat.
Because the litigation was for underinsurance benefits, Sieben’s client will never see the full amount of the verdict. Instead he will only get the $100,000 policy amount and his costs. It’s a case that Sieben feels should have been settled, but the insurer refused to offer the policy limits. In fact, the highest offer it made was $75,000 on the day of trial. Sieben referred to the case as the poster child for a law in Minnesota requiring insurers to act in good faith. (Minnesota recently enacted such a law.)
Sieben’s wife, Amy, is also a Minneapolis lawyer, although she does mostly defense work. Last year, Minnesota Lawyer recognized her as an Up & Coming Attorney. The couple are expecting their first child in July.
