2022 Diversity & Inclusion: Cresston Gackle

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Cresston Law LLC

Throughout his legal career, Cresston Gackle has been committed to representing those in need in the juvenile and family courts of Minnesota.

The Bettendorf, Iowa native discovered that practice specialty while he was a student attorney at the University of Minnesota Child Advocacy and Juvenile Justice Clinic. “Child-related law, whether family or juvenile, struck me as the most important area of law because these cases not only affect how kids’ lives are going, but these cases also reverberate throughout their lives.”

After graduating from the U of M law school in 2016, Gackle spent three eye-opening years as a clerk for Hennepin County Judge Kathleen Sheehy in the Family, Civil and Juvenile Divisions. “It was a formative experience. You see everything” in that setting. “Over half of the people in family court are not represented by an attorney. There are a lot of people in difficult situations trying to advocate for themselves and their kids.”

Before his clerkship, Gackle was a certified student attorney in the U of M’s Child Advocacy & Juvenile Justice Clinic. Representing children, grandparents, relatives, and guardians ad litem in delinquency, third-party custody, and child protection cases, he became aware of the lifelong impact those cases have on individuals and families, especially people of color and immigrants.

Along with his clinic work, Gackle focused on practical research experiences at the Minnesota Board of Public Defense Appellate Office, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, and the University of Minnesota Law School, reviewing thousands of cases and hundreds of pages of documents. His research was used in published articles in Yale Law Journal, UC Davis Law Review and NYU Law Review.

Gackle started Cresston Law LLC after clerking for Judge Sheehy. Counterintuitively, Gackle said, starting a solo practice in the middle of the pandemic proved to be partially beneficial. Because all court hearings were being held remotely, it was easier to take on cases in other counties; he has handled cases in at least eight counties, although most of his have been in the Twin Cities.

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