Midlands Business Journal November 19, 2021

Page 16

LEADING LAWYERR

WOMEN WHO rock AMY L. LAWRENSON, PARTNER, BAIRD HOLM

EMPOWERED WOMEN empower AMY LAWRENSON ADVANCES DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION IN LAW As a student majoring in political science at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Amy L. Lawrenson interned with the legislature in her home state of South Dakota. “For the first time ever, I met a female attorney,” Lawrenson recalled. “I was 20 and I had never met a female attorney. That blows my mind in retrospect and shines light on why I was impressed with her. That started me down the path to law school and the rest is history.” In 2004, she would receive her Bachelor of Arts degree. Three years later, Lawrenson would earn her Juris Doctorate from Creighton University School of Law. Today, she is a partner at Baird Holm, LLC. With a family rooted in farming, Lawrenson said real estate was a natural path for her. “Like my grandfather and my uncles before me, I ‘work’ the land, albeit in a different fashion,” she said. “Being familiar with acres as a measurement has definitely come in handy in my career. “My specialization is renewable energy. It also allowed me to marry together my practice specializations of leasing, land use, permitting and construction.”

Lawrenson can see how the renewable developments infuse much-needed tax monies and infrastructure improvements into rural communities — like the one she called home as a child. Lawrenson found transitional work was typically “less adversarial and more collaborative.” “I liked that,” she said. “Today, I love that most of my projects are about achieving common goals that all parties can get behind and celebrate when completed.” Additionally, what was initially a gloomy time to embark on a career (the not-so-great recession of 2007), ended up being a rather fortuitous time for Lawrenson, in retrospect. She would go on to exit the legal industry and enter the world of retirement and large-scale institutional investment products while working with Mutual of Omaha. “I loved my time at Mutual and planned to stay there for my career until a prior colleague convinced me to talk to Baird Holm,” she said. “As the economy rebounded, there was a shortage of real estate attorneys, which presented an opportunity for me to re-enter the field. When I met with Baird Holm, I could instantly tell it would be a great environment for me to advance my career, something I believed would take much longer in a corporate position.”

Page 16 • November 19, 2021­


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