Former Minnesota AGs Swanson, Hatch reunite to open Minneapolis law firm

Former Minnesota Attorneys General Lori Swanson and Mike Hatch are joining forces again to open a new law firm in Minneapolis.

Swanson Hatch, P.A., will begin doing business next week, the firm announced Tuesday. They expect to represent clients in regulated industries such as health care, insurance, real estate and finance.

The firm brings together the last two state attorneys general preceding newly elected Attorney General Keith Ellison, who took office in January. Both are litigators with a long history of working together in Minnesota's legal community.

"As attorneys general for 20 years, we both took on very tough, complex fights and got results," Swanson said in a statement Tuesday. "We look forward to helping our clients right legal wrongs."

Hatch and Swanson, both DFLers, practiced together in the 1990s. Swanson later served as solicitor general and deputy attorney general during Hatch's two terms, and then succeeded him in 2007. Swanson left office last year to mount an unsuccessful bid for governor.

In opening the firm, Hatch — who also spent seven years as Commerce commissioner — will leave Blackwell Burke, P.A., in Minneapolis, where he has practiced since leaving public office in 2007. As attorney general, Hatch sued major Minnesota health providers over billing and collection practices and mental health funding for children. He also sued U.S. Bank for selling customers' account information.

Swanson focused on consumer protection while also overseeing Minnesota's largest-ever environmental settlement, a deal in which 3M Co. agreed to pay $890 million in connection with allegations of groundwater contamination over several decades in the east metro area.