Minnesota Icons 2024: Philip Sieff

Robins Kaplan

Philip Sieff added to a long list of his significant court decisions recently with a landmark $7.75-million verdict against CRC Industries for its failure to prevent misuse of its aerosol dust-remover product, the first dust-remover case to go to trial.

The case involved a 2019 incident where a woman was killed when a driver crossed the center line and struck her car head on after huffing dust remover. Though marketed as a dust and lint remover, products like CRC Duster are used by some to get high—and Sieff, as co-counsel, convinced a federal district court jury in Fergus Falls that CRC was negligent in failing to prevent misuse of its product.

Sieff has achieved multiple seven- and eight-figure verdicts and settlements for his clients since joining Robins Kaplan in 1995. He also served as co-lead counsel of the Interstate 35W Consortium, a group of 17 law firms that provided pro bono legal services to more than 100 victims of the I-35W bridge collapse in 2007. Sieff contributed more than 3,500 hours of free legal service to the victims and played a role in securing a legislatively created $37-million compensation fund for them.

Prior to joining Robins Kaplan, Sieff worked in a multi-practice firm in Edina but decided that he wanted to focus on plaintiffs trial work and had the opportunity to join Kaplan. He’s never regretted that decision.

“I love talking to people and I love talking to juries,” he says. “I love the thought of taking a case from a single sheet of paper, the initial intake, to a bigger file and reaching a resolution one way or another. It still fascinates me that we turn to a group of people completely unknown to us, selected at random, to decide something that we can’t agree on. And, like most trial lawyers, I like being the focus of attention, the theater of it, and winning. But most importantly, I love the sense that we’re resolving something for people that otherwise can’t be resolved.”

Sieff has won numerous awards for his trial work, including being named the 2024 “Outstanding Trial Lawyer of the Year” by the Minnesota Association for Justice.

In addition to his practice, Sieff devotes significant time and energy at Kaplan to mentoring young lawyers and sharing his knowledge of how to be an effective plaintiffs attorney.

“I’m getting to the point in my career where I’m not sure what I’ll be doing down the line,” Sieff says. “But what’s exciting to me right now is trying to help young lawyers and give back everything I’ve learned and stolen from others and try to help them grow as lawyers and try to help people.”