Dane DeKrey
Attorney & Managing Partner
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.
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 daughter.
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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
Groundbreaking Moment In My Career
When COVID-19 struck, Congress passed an emergency law that allowed people with certain health conditions to be released from jail. Using the law, I was just the second lawyer in the entire country to get a client released due to his medical condition. Had that not happened, there's a good chance my client would have caught COVID-19 and possibly died. Instead, he was released, which greatly lessened his risk of contracting the disease. To this day, I'm very proud of that.
Bar Admissions:
Minnesota, 2015
North Dakota, 2021
U.S. District Court, Minnesota, 2016
U.S. District Court, North Dakota, 2017
U.S. District Court, Eastern Wisconsin, 2022
U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, 2017
Education:
University of Minnesota Law School, magna cum laude, 2014
University of Wyoming College of Law, Student Study Away Program, 2014
Bocconi University - School of Law, Student Exchange Program, 2013
University of North Dakota, summa cum laude, 2008
Associations:
University of North Dakota Law School, Adjunct Professor, Trial Team National Finalists, 2019
Lunch Aid North Dakota, Board Member
Great Northern Innocence Project, North Dakota Advisory Committee
American Bar Association, Fellow
ACLU Abortion Criminal Defense Initiative, North Dakota Network Attorney
U.S. District of Minnesota Federal Practice Committee, Member
Criminal Rules Subcommittee Chair
Minnesota State Bar Association
State Bar Association of North Dakota
Cass County, ND Bar Association
Clay County, MN Bar Association
Becker County, MN Bar Association
Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
North Dakota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Meet the Team
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Bruce Ringstrom Sr.
OF COUNSEL
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Bruce Ringstrom Jr.
FOUNDING PARTNER