Minnesota Icons 2024: Steven J. Dickinson

Cozen O’Connor

Throughout a legal practice that has spanned nearly 50 years, Steven J. Dickinson has had a profound impact on the legal and business communities of not only the Upper Midwest, but across the globe.

An Iowa native, Dickinson spent the first 25 years of his career in his native state, including 11 years in Dorsey & Whitney’s Des Moines office, where he led the office’s corporate practice. 

In 2005, he moved to Minnesota after joining Fredrickson & Byron, and in 2016 he joined Cozen O’Connor because he had many clients who had needs in other parts of the country and felt that being part of a national firm, as opposed to a regional firm, was a better fit. He also had the opportunity to help lead Cozen’s international practice and has been instrumental in its expansion.

“One of the things I’ve helped with is developing an informal set of relationships, as we have clients that have needs in other countries,” Dickinson says. “I’ve got a pretty good Rolodex—and I’m old enough to know what a Rolodex is.”

His busy international practice has involved transactions on every continent except Antarctica. It’s also meant that he is in high demand to take part in trade missions, including several with governors of Minnesota and surrounding states. He has also been appointed to the Minnesota District Export Council by U.S. secretaries of commerce in the Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations, and he is serving his second term on the board of Global Minnesota

For Dickinson, the grand sweep of his practice provides singular satisfaction.

“It’s rewarding in the sense that I have a number of longtime clients who have been with me for many years, where I am a trusted adviser and counselor,” he says. “I like that. I like the relationship aspect of practicing law. I also enjoy doing different things, interesting things. I’m one of those people who would get bored if I did the same thing over and over every day. That is not possible with my position.”