Minneapolis
P +1 (612) 492-5471
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Overview
Rakiah helps employers resolve high-stakes disputes with clear strategy and practical, courtroom-ready advocacy.
Rakiah Adams is a litigator with experience at every level of a dispute, from administrative proceedings and mediation to arbitration, trial, and appeal. She represents businesses and employers in employment and labor issues, drawing on years of experience defending civil rights and public-sector claims. That background gives Rakiah a practical understanding of how each side of a dispute operates and what it takes to resolve one. As a litigator, Rakiah defends employers against alleged violations of state and federal employment laws and defends clients’ trade secrets. As an advisor, Rakiah guides businesses on how to best avoid litigation through compliance with accommodation and leave laws, and hiring and firing decisions. In both roles, Rakiah assesses what her clients wish to accomplish, then builds a strategy around it. Clients rely on her for candid assessments of risk, careful attention to detail, and persuasive arguments in trial and appellate courts, whether the goal is an early resolution or a verdict.
Education & Admissions
Seton Hall University School of Law (J.D., 2020),
- Comments Editor, Seton Hall Legislative Journal, Vol. 44
- Gressman Moot Court
Iowa State University (B.A., 2017),
- cum laude
- Iowa State Daily
Admissions
- Minnesota
- New Jersey
- Washington
- U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota
- U.S. District Courts for the Western and Eastern Districts of Washington
- U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Eighth and Ninth Circuits
Experience
Representative Work
- Won a Minnesota Supreme Court reversal holding that a property owner's termination of the general contractor starts the two-year limitations period for construction-defect claims. *
- Successfully briefed and argued a Ninth Circuit appeal for a municipality and individual officers on a warrantless search and seizure, with the Court affirming dismissal. *
- Won summary judgment for a large metropolitan public transit agency on race and gender discrimination claims. *
- Secured affirmance of summary judgment on breach-of-contract and negligence per se claims in a cemetery burial-lot dispute. *
- Won dismissal with prejudice of a wrongful death suit against a regional 911 communications center. *
- Won judgment on the pleadings and dismissal with prejudice for county sheriff’s department in alleged improper detention, arrest, and assault case. *
- Obtained dismissal of race and gender discrimination claims against a school district. *
- Won summary judgment dismissing a slip-and-fall suit against a school district. *
*Experience occurred prior to joining Dorsey.
Industries & Practices
Government Enforcement & Corporate Investigations
Explore This Practice View resources related to this practice- Appellate
- Corporate Governance & Compliance
- Government Enforcement & Corporate Investigations
- Insurance Law
- Labor & Employment