How to use the two official lookups

The registration search

Run by the Minnesota Judicial Branch. The court says this search shows license number, name, address, current status, admission date, CLE category and professional liability insurance information.

1. Open the Minnesota attorney search.
2. Search by Lawyer ID if you have it. If not, enter both last and first name, or use a sound-alike search on the last name. There is an option to include a previous last name.
3. Complete the reCAPTCHA check. The court says it helps prevent data mining companies from gathering the data.
4. Read the record that comes back, including current status.

Because of that check, we did not retrieve results from this search for this draft. Every entry on this site shows it as not checked.

• Minnesota attorney registration search

The public discipline search

Run by the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility (OLPR). OLPR says this form shows whether a Minnesota licensed lawyer has received public discipline, has been placed on disability inactive status in lieu of discipline, or has a public discipline petition pending.

1. Open the OLPR lawyer search page.
2. Enter a last name, and a first name or city if the name is common. Lawyer ID is the most exact.
3. Read the row. It shows the name, date admitted, "Authorized to practice in MN?", "Public decision issued?", city and state.
4. If the row shows a decision or a pending petition, read what the record itself says rather than relying on anyone's summary, including ours.

• OLPR lawyer search
• OLPR's helpful tips for hiring a lawyer

What the results do and do not show

OLPR says only information about public matters pending in or decided by the Minnesota Supreme Court is available to the public. It says information about private discipline, dismissed complaints and pending complaints is not available except as authorized.

So "NO" under public decision means only that the search shows no public decision. It is not a finding about skill, and it does not rule out anything that is not public. A pending matter is not a final finding.

If "Authorized to practice" shows NO, read any reason the record gives, and ask the lawyer.

Run the Lawyer ID lookup, step by step

1. Open the OLPR lawyer search and find the search form.
2. Enter the Lawyer ID from this site in the Lawyer ID box and leave the other fields empty. The ID can include a letter.
3. Press Search. One row should come back.
4. Compare the name, the date admitted and the city with what the firm says. A different city may only mean a different mailing address.
5. Read the two columns that matter: authorized to practice and public decision issued.
6. If you cannot find the row, search by last name with a first name or city and look for the matching ID.

On 2026-11-06 we ran this search for all 14 listed attorneys. It worked with the Lawyer ID alone and showed no reCAPTCHA. OLPR says court actions on a license appear in search results the next business day.

Make sure it is the right person

Names repeat. Compare the full name and city with the firm's website, and use the Lawyer ID once you have it. Our entries list the ID shown in the OLPR search so you can repeat the lookup. City listings can differ from a firm's current office, so a mismatch is worth a question, not a conclusion.

Specialist titles and ACTEC

The Minnesota State Bar Association certifies specialists in four areas: civil trial, criminal, labor and employment, and real property. Estate planning is not one of them. If a firm lists "specialist", ask who certified it and in what area.

ACTEC, the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, is a national organization whose members are called Fellows. Its member directory is the place to check a claim of fellowship. We did not search it for this site, so no entry here says anyone is or is not a Fellow.

MSBA information came from search results and a list of its certification areas. We could not open the MSBA specialist directory because the old address returned not found. A reviewer should confirm the four areas and the directory address.

How to read lists and badges

Some websites show "Super Lawyers", "Best Lawyers", "Martindale-Hubbell" or reader-vote badges. Each list has its own method, and the methods differ. Super Lawyers, for example, says it combines nominations by other lawyers, staff research and a peer panel, and publishes its method on its website. Check the list's own method page before giving it weight.

Ask: who picks the names, how are they chosen, is there a fee to be considered or to advertise the listing, and what year does the badge refer to? A badge from a past year may not describe today. None of these lists says anything about whether a lawyer is right for your matter.

• Super Lawyers: selection process

Court pages worth knowing

If you are dealing with a death in the family, the Minnesota Judicial Branch has a plain-language page on probate and a page of probate forms. It describes informal and formal probate and what a personal representative does. It says the Judicial Branch publishes some probate forms, not all of them, and that it is best to get a lawyer's help with a will or trust.

The Judicial Branch also publishes annual reports and performance measures on its caseload. We have not drawn figures from them for this site.

Pages read 2026-11-06. We did not read the reports page; the link comes from a search listing.

• Minnesota Judicial Branch: probate, wills and estates
• Probate court forms
• Judicial Branch publications and reports