2024 Up & Coming Attorneys: Kirsten L. Elfstrand

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FAEGRE DRINKER BIDDLE & REATH LLP

After five years of practice, Kirsten Elfstrand is known to colleagues as a rising trial attorney and an increasingly important member of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP’s intellectual property group.

She has personally conducted a direct examination, personally argued multiple trial motions, and has developed extensive witness exams and opening and closing arguments for others.

Like many lawyers, she didn’t take a direct path to her practice. Elfstrand studied history and political science in college before deciding on law school.

“I wasn’t sure what to do,” she said. “But after college I worked in a small law firm in Minneapolis and did an externship with a criminal court judge in Minneapolis. That made me say, ‘OK, I like this.’”

Last year, Elfstrand helped a team representing Coldwell Banker Realty Orange County in a six-week jury trial in California. The team helped win a directed verdict from the court on all claims at the close of all evidence stage. The verdict ruled against the plaintiff, a local competitor of Coldwell Banker, who alleged breach of contract, unfair business practices and trade secret misappropriation and sought damages in the “tens of millions.”

“When I interviewed at Faegre, I met people in the intellectual property group who I really liked,” she said. As a summer associate, she found she clicked with that practice area even more than she’d expected to.

Elfstrand has had four jury trials in the past two years, all in different facets of her practice.

Some have been more routine than others. In a copyright-related federal jury trial, she got to take direct examination of a witness — or rather she had to, on about 12 hours’ notice, because a colleague needed  help.

“As a mid-level associate, that was really fun,” she said.