Winthrop & Weinstine
Tammera Diehm serves as the first female president of Winthrop & Weinstine.
Jeff Sjerven//September 29, 2025//

Heather J. Kliebenstein is managing director of the intellectual property law firm Merchant & Gould’s seven offices across the country. With fellow members of the Executive Committee, she leads the 125-year-old firm and provides direction for planning and growth, while COO and CFO Tracy R. Skjeveland manages day-to-day operations.
The firm’s practice combines technical mastery, strategic guidance, and litigation expertise to help clients convert their intellectual property into competitive advantage. It serves clients that range from solo inventors to global corporations.
Kliebenstein, who joined the firm as an associate in 2004, says the reception women received from the men who had always run the firm was “welcoming and supportive.” Kliebenstein says the firm supports women lawyers through mentorship and by challenging new lawyers to earn promotion. The openness to sharing personal struggles helps assure young women that they can take their own path and achieve success.
Tammera Diehm serves as the first female president of Winthrop & Weinstine.
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.
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.
The firm was founded in 2015 by three lawyers, two of whom are women: Jan Conlin and Katie Crosby Lehmann.
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.
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.
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.
Greene Espel doesn’t use the traditional model of firm governance.
Maslon LLP has provided counsel to the Minnesota business community for 80 years.
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.
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.
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.
The attorneys at Berens Miller like to say they “deliver big-firm legal services in a small-firm setting.”
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.
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.
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.”
MADEL calls itself a firm full of attorneys who “truly love what we do.
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.
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