Kirsten Schubert

Kirsten is a partner in the Trial Group of the Minneapolis office of Dorsey & Whitney. A past member of Dorsey’s Policy Committee, the Firm’s governing board, Kirsten brings both exceptional courtroom experience and Firm-wide leadership to her practice.

Kirsten’s commercial litigation practice focuses on shareholder disputes, ERISA litigation, securities class actions, M&A litigation, governance disputes, and other types of litigation in the financial services and healthcare industries.

She has represented companies and boards of directors in shareholder and governance disputes, and in disputes resulting from M&A transactions. She has defended financial services clients in class actions involving the sale of sophisticated investment products, and represents financial advisors, funds, broker dealers, and asset managers in contract disputes, internal investigations, regulatory inquiries, and FINRA arbitration. She represents financial advisors on ESOP civil and Department of Labor (DOL) matters. Kirsten represents ERISA benefit plan sponsors, administrators, and fiduciaries. She has defended class action challenges to 401(k) retirement plans, claims for benefits, and provider-driven mass actions. She represents healthcare companies, including insurers, administrators, service providers, and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), in contract and other commercial disputes.

Kirsten’s national litigation footprint is extensive. She has appeared in the District of Minnesota, Southern District of New York, Northern District of New York, Western District of Washington, Central District of California, Southern District of Indiana, Northern District of Ohio, and Western District of Wisconsin, as well as before the Second, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Circuits. She has also litigated in Delaware Chancery Court, state courts in Minnesota, California, Iowa, Michigan, New York, and Florida, and in arbitration.

Beyond her litigation practice, Kirsten has been a dedicated leader within Dorsey, serving on the Policy Committee and as Recruiting Chair and Hiring Partner. In these roles, she focused on recruiting and retaining highly skilled lawyers who bring a diverse set of backgrounds, viewpoints, and experiences to the Firm, and actively worked with senior management to strengthen inclusion efforts.

Kirsten also devotes a significant portion of her practice to pro bono work. Kirsten served as an adjunct professor in the University of Minnesota Law School’s Binger Center Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic. Alongside a team of Dorsey lawyers, she won release of her intellectually disabled client, Bruce Webster, from federal death row. As a result of the Firm’s work on Mr. Webster’s case, Kirsten received the 2020 HCBA Excellence Award for Pro Bono Service, and Dorsey was given the ABA’s 2020 Exceptional Service Award. She was also named the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota’s 2018 National Advocate of the Year for her work on behalf of a child refugee during the Trump Administration’s first travel ban.