About Dane

Dane DeKrey is a “dyed-in-the-wool” criminal defense lawyer who has spent a decade honing his craft in both private and public law. He’s received various awards for his work, including being named a Minnesota Super Lawyer “Rising Star” and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, an invitation-only trial lawyer organization. Dane also became a Certified Criminal Law Specialist in in 2024.

Prior to co-founding Ringstrom DeKrey, Dane was the Director of the ACLU of North Dakota, where he strived to make the state a better place to live for all its residents. His work took many forms, including lobbying at the state capital, writing about criminal justice issues, running grassroots campaigns, and fighting against discriminatory laws and practices of any kind.

Before that, Dane worked as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Fargo, North Dakota, where he handled hundreds of federal criminal cases. His caseload included alleged drug possession and distribution, illegal gun possession, noncitizen illegal reentry, and supervised release violations. He also handled cases originating on the Turtle Mountain Indian and Spirit Lake Dakota Reservations, including alleged murder, manslaughter, sexual assault, assault, arson, and others.

Dane began his legal career representing average people taking on large companies at Zimmerman Reed LLP, a plaintiff’s class action law firm in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He remains close with the firm and often collaborates with them and other firms on cases involving civil rights violations, consumer protection violations, and catastrophic personal injury.

Dane attended law school at the University of Minnesota, where he graduated magna cum laude (top 10% of class). Before law school, Dane worked for Congressman Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota. Before that, Dane attended college at the University of North Dakota, where he graduated summa cum laude (top 1% of class), received the top undergraduate thesis award, and was elected Phi Beta Kappa.

Outside of his legal work, Dane serves on the board of Lunch Aid North Dakota and as an advisor to the Great Northern Innocence Project. While Dane grew up in Wyoming, his roots are in North Dakota. He lives in Moorhead, Minnesota with his wife, two sons, and identical twin daughters.

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To learn more about Dane, read his recent interview with Minnesota Law, the University of Minnesota’s law school magazine, and also a recent story about him in Minnesota Super Lawyers magazine.

Honors

Rising Star