Spencer Fane opens office in Minneapolis.

Byline: Barbara L. Jones

Minnesota is not a fly-over state to law firms, according to the managing partner of the office of the latest national firm to set up shop here.

"For many years Minneapolis was ignored, but not anymore," said Donald Heeman, the managing partner in Minneapolis of Spencer Fane, which opened its office downtown earlier this month with six attorneys formerly employed at Felhaber Larson.

Spencer Fane traces its roots to 1879 when William Tell Johnson and John Lucas opened up shop in Kansas City, Missouri, the firm's website states. In 1952, Johnson, Lucas, Graves & Fane merged with Spencer Britt & Browne, and became Spencer Fane Britt & Browne.

Notably, the firm has stayed away from the coasts, while expanding throughout the center of the country, including more offices in Missouri; Nebraska; Denver; Colorado Springs; Oklahoma City; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Dallas; Plano, Texas; and most recently, Tampa and Minneapolis. It does not have an office in Chicago.

Heeman, Jessica Nelson and Randi Winter opened the new office on Jan. 8. By Jan. 14 they were joined by Leslie Witterschein, Laurie Quinn and Jon Farnsworth.

Heeman said the Minneapolis lawyers were intrigued by the people and the culture of Spencer Fane and also by its geographical focus. At the same time, the type of offices and billing rates prevalent in Minneapolis fit in well with Spencer Fane, Heeman said. The lawyers there are collaborative and have opened their office doors to the Minneapolis attorneys, he said.

"They were excited about our practices and made us welcome. They are very successful and have opened many offices in the past. I've been impressed with the quality of people, how excited they are to be in this market," Heeman said.

The move will enable the Minneapolis lawyers to continue to serve local clients while also working with national clients. "We have large clients that have large-scale needs," Heeman said. Spencer Fane will enable the lawyers to reach across offices for assistance in pretty much every discipline, he said. "We can serve clients top to bottom."

Spencer Fane was equally enthusiastic about the move. "We have been looking at the market [in Minneapolis] for three years and we found a great fit with these individuals. The two basic components of our strategic methodology were the existing client...