2022 Up & Coming Attorneys: Anna M. Koch

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Trepanier MacGillis Battina P.A. Anna Koch likes an argument. The litigator for Trepanier MacGillis Battina P.A. never planned to go into law and then never intended to become a litigator, but she has since relished a career of advocating for clients in the courtroom.

The North Central University communication arts graduate took a business law class and saw the advantages of working with clients long-term rather than, as in the case of journalists, doing one-off interviews. While attending the University of Minnesota Law School, Koch took part in a moot court and “fell in love” with advocating for her client and debating legal points.

Koch’s appellate practice has grown this year to include seven appeals, with cases at the Minnesota Supreme Court and the Minnesota Court of Appeals. “It’s a different kind of legal thinking than going to trial,” she said. “I enjoy the challenge of analyzing the lower court’s decision and seeing whether the law was correctly applied and if my client got a fair outcome.”

Koch tries to tease out where the lower court misapplied the law. Koch said that one recent appeal required cross referencing multiple statutes and administrative regulations, requiring her to analyze and interpret the contradictory requirements before arguing they were wrongly applied.

“You have to be a master of your case law, statutes and rules on a different level than presenting the law to a jury,” she said.

Koch’s practice consists of businesses and individual clients. Recently, she has had several individual cases involving breach of non-compete agreements, as well as licensing issues where the client’s business and livelihood were at risk.  She’s won court trials, bankruptcy proceedings, conciliation court cases, arbitrations and unemployment hearings.

In 2018 Koch joined Trepanier MacGillis Battina and was, until this year, the youngest associate. With the firm having hired three new law school graduates, she’s serving as their mentor as they adapt to their first jobs.

Outside the firm, Koch enjoys ballroom dancing because it combines “a social outing plus learning something new that is technical but fun.” She also competes in equestrian dressage. “I’ve competed at the highest level,” Koch said.

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