In the Lead: Women-Led Law Firms 2025

Maslon LLP has provided counsel to the Minnesota business community for 80 years.

The firm was founded in 2015 by three lawyers, two of whom are women: Jan Conlin and Katie Crosby Lehmann.

In 2022, Nilan Johnson Lewis earned certification by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, making it one of the largest certified women-owned law firms in the nation.

Tammera Diehm serves as the first female president of Winthrop & Weinstine.

Heather J. Kliebenstein is managing director of the intellectual property law firm Merchant & Gould’s seven offices across the country.

Founded in 1999, Fafinski Mark & Johnson is a commercial law firm serving a diverse portfolio of multimillion-dollar businesses, as well as smaller organizations, sole proprietors and individuals.

Stoel Rives is a U.S. corporate and litigation law firm that provides “sophisticated business clients high quality legal services,” according to its website. It has offices in seven states and Washington, D.C.

Tracing its origins to 1885, Ballard Spahr specializes in matters of litigation, transactions and regulatory compliance. It also has a reputation as a good place for women to practice law.

Fredrikson & Byron prides itself as a top law firm for female attorneys.

The boutique, all-women family law firm Honsa Mara & Kanne is led by partners Anne Honsa, Kristy Mara and Kari Kanne.

Barnes & Thornburg is a full-service firm that has provided legal services to businesses and individuals in the Twin Cities area for 30 years, according to its website.

The firm of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough is a “diversified law firm of more than 1,000 attorneys, policy advisors, and professionals,” with offices across the United States, according to its website.

An IP law firm with offices across the globe, as well as more than 450 attorneys, Fish & Richardson asserts that diversity, equity, and inclusion has been essential to its success.

MADEL calls itself a firm full of attorneys who “truly love what we do.

The attorneys at Berens Miller like to say they “deliver big-firm legal services in a small-firm setting.”

Norton Rose Fulbright is a global firm that “provides a full scope of legal services to the world’s preeminent corporations and financial institutions,” according to its website.

A premier commercial litigation firm representing a diverse clientele, Anthony Ostlund Louwagie Dressen & Boylan P.A. uses its experience and business-minded focus to achieve advantageous results for clients.

Founded in 2003, the firm of Gustafson Gluek was created when Karla Gluek’s mentor Dan Gustafson asked about starting a firm of their own. Within a week, the firm was launched.

Founded in 1983, Zelle employs nearly 100 attorneys in nine domestic offices and one in London.

Concluding that the “old law firm model is broken,” a group of experienced lawyers formed Sapientia Law Group in 2011 in Minneapolis.

In January 2026, Henson Efron’s first woman president, Lisa Spencer, will hand the reins to Rochelle Hauser, demonstrating “continuity in leadership that further strengthens our services, culture, and community impact.”

Greene Espel doesn’t use the traditional model of firm governance.