Family Law

• Divorce
• Child Support
  Leah L. Fisher is an experienced family law attorney, representing individuals in a broad range of matters, including divorce, custody, parenting time, child support, adoption and other general family matters. Fisher is a Qualified Rule 114 Neutral and has served as a court-appointed neutral evaluator for custody and parenting time disputes.
• Child Custody and Visitation
  Holly Haller joined Hanft Fride as a legal associate in October 2013 and is licensed to practice in the state of Minnesota. During law school, Haller served as an editor for the William Mitchel Law Review, interned with the judges of the Sixth Judicial District in Duluth and externed for the Honorable Chief Judge Michael J. Davis at the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. She also served as a child custody policy intern at the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women and participated in William Mitchell’s Veterans Law externship. Prior to joining Hanft Fride, Haller served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Dale A. Wolf of the Sixth Judicial District in Carlton, Minnesota.
• Adoption
• Paternity
• Premarital Agreement
  Cheryl M. Prince is one of Hanft Fride’s top family law lawyers, practicing exclusively in family law and mediation. She has over 30 years of experience working with clients to address the full range of issues involved with divorce, adoption, paternity and prenuptial agreements. She has handled cases involving both simple and complex property division, business valuation, maintenance and custody matters.
• Guardianship
• Spousal Support
  In his family law practice, Baker drafts and negotiates antenuptial and postnuptial agreements, represents clients in complex dissolution proceedings involving asset valuations as well as spousal maintenance, child custody and child support issues. Baker is a strong believer in Alternative Dispute Resolution and is a Qualified Rule 114 Neutral and serves as an Early Neutral Evaluator and mediator in family law, probate and other cases. He has settled numerous cases through the Early Neutral Evaluation process and mediation.
• Legal Separation

Criminal Law

• Restraining Order
  Prior to returning to private practice in mid-2022 Schulte served for eight years as a Judicial Referee in the Sixth Judicial District based in Duluth, presiding over a wide range of cases including Conciliation Court, Orders for Protection and Harassment Restraining Orders, Evictions, various Family Court matters including Initial Case Management conferences, and even some minor criminal and traffic court cases.  Having served eight years on the bench gives Schulte a unique perspective on potentially contested matters.

Business and Corporate Law

• Mergers and Acquisitions
  William M. Burns handles private and public financing of business enterprises, healthcare business issues, and mergers and acquisitions. He also provides general business advice, management of litigation and other dispute resolution services. Burns is also a real estate lawyer and works in multi-family and commercial real estate development. His clients include large and small businesses, banks, real estate developers, educational institutions and medical specialists. Burns is a strong supporter of legal services for low-income individuals. He is listed among the “Best Lawyers in America” and has been voted a “Super Lawyer” by his peers in
• Business Formation
  He is excited to use his experiences to assist small and family-owned businesses in any legal issues they face, particularly those in the areas of business formation and operation, contracts, litigation, and estate planning.
• Business Disputes
  Our business law practice group works to forge strong relationships and fully understand our client’s circumstances and goals. This helps us to become an integrated and efficient part of their team, providing legal advice focused upon client value.
• Business Transactions
  Trust the talented attorneys and staff at Hanft Fride to manage your case with respect, professionalism and courtesy, taking care to keep you informed every step of the way. From business transactions to litigation, family law to real estate and estate planning, our team delivers high-quality services with high-value results.
• Limited Liability Companies
• Trade Secrets
• Intellectual Property

Employment Law

• Workers Compensation
  Robin C. Merritt engages in general practice of law with an emphasis on civil litigation and workers compensation defense. His litigation practice focuses on eminent domain, real estate disputes, professional negligence claims, products liability and general negligence claims. He also counsels and represents employers on a wide variety of matters including discrimination, FMLA, and other compliance issues.
• Employment Discrimination
  Prince is a Qualified Rule 114 Neutral serving on both the civil and family law mediation and arbitration rosters. She serves as one of a select group of attorneys acting as mediators for the Minnesota Court of Appeals family court mediation project. She has served as a neutral in a wide range of disputes including family, personal injury and employment discrimination.
• Employment Contract
• Employment Litigation
  Our employment and labor law attorneys offer employers the assistance and expertise they need to understand and exercise their employment and labor law rights. We help our clients minimize their exposure to employment claims and to defend their interests should litigation occur.
• Non-compete Agreement

Property Law

• Real Estate Litigation
  Our real estate law practice includes land use, environmental law, municipal approvals and governmental relations. By tying these services together, and applying our firm’s expertise, we address and manage all aspects of our clients’ real estate business opportunities.
• Premises Liability
• Construction Litigation
  We have substantial experience in traditional estate planning, including the preparation of wills and trusts, powers of attorney and healthcare directives. We also represent fiduciaries and individuals involved in will and trust litigation, including will and trust construction disputes, will and trust contests, reformation lawsuits, and other related litigation.
• Real Estate Transactions
  Jennifer L. Carey concentrates her practice in the areas of real estate and estate planning. Carey represents property owners, developers, lenders and associations in a broad range of real estate transactions, including the sale and purchase of real estate, lending and borrowing, leasing, title issues and real estate development, with particular experience in condominiums, townhomes, resorts and fractional ownership. She also represents individuals and families in a variety of estate planning matters, including wills, trusts, powers of attorney and healthcare directives, advanced wealth transfer planning, business succession planning and probate and trust administration.
• Eminent Domain
• Land Use and Zoning
  Our real estate development practice represents private, entrepreneurial and commercial developments related to the acquisition, construction, financing, leasing and disposition of real estate. We are proud to assist our clients in the analysis, planning and acquisition in advance of their identification or selection of a project for development, rental, condominiumization or sale. We also help facilitate the organization of entities and relationships, including investor relationships, to allow and create appropriate financing for projects. We work on planning and zoning issues, tax increments and other governmental financing vehicles.
• Landlord-Tenant Disputes
  John B. Schulte practices primarily in the areas of family law, including an extensive background in providing mediation and Early Neutral Evaluation services, landlord-tenant law, and also has experience with debtor-creditor and other general civil matters.  He previously worked as a Guardian ad Litem in family and juvenile cases and also performed both private and court-appointed custody evaluations and parenting time expediting.

Health Law

• Personal Injury
  Scott A. Witty is civil litigation lawyer and also practices employment law. He represents insured and uninsured parties in employment, personal injury, contract, trust and real property disputes. He also assists employers with hiring, termination, and drafting personnel policies.

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  Estate planning is an essential part of planning your future. Our wills, trusts, probate and estate planning attorneys advise individuals, families, professionals and family-owned businesses in forming and implementing plans for efficiently and effectively transferring wealth and control of assets.
• Wills
• Trusts
  Jacob J. Baker focuses his practice in all areas of estate planning, probate, trust administration and family law. He counsels clients on asset management, orderly asset transfers, wealth preservation, tax planning and related matters.
• Power of Attorney
• Probate

Finance Law

• Bankruptcy
  Frederick A. Dudderar, Jr. represents both secured creditors and business debtors in matters pertaining to loan enforcement and restructuring, including workout arrangements, Chapter 11 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy reorganizations. As a bankruptcy attorney, his practice also includes Chapter 7 consumer bankruptcies, debtor-creditor litigation and commercial law. From 1979 to 1981, he served as law clerk to the Fourth District Indiana Court of Appeals, and from 1981 to 1982, Dudderar was a law clerk for the Minnesota Supreme Court.
• Tax Law
  As part of a larger firm, our family law attorneys are able to consult with all other attorneys at Hanft Fride on the full range of complex issues associated with family law matters, including business valuations, family finance, real estate and tax issues. In cases involving these and other complex issues, our clients benefit from the knowledge and resources of Hanft Fride as a whole.