A smaller Dorsey & Whitney enjoys rebound after growth in 2013

The financial fortunes of big, Minneapolis-based law firm Dorsey & Whitney rebounded in 2013, Dorsey managing partner Ken Cutler said last week.

"I think morale is up," Cutler said. "It usually is when finances are up and we're busy."

Dorsey, one of the 100 largest U.S. law firms, saw 2012 revenue drop to its lowest level in six years, amid turnover, the loss of some high-producing attorneys to competitors and retirements.

In an interview, Cutler said Dorsey added more high-producing partners last year from other firms (22) than it lost to competitors.

But the talent competition remains intense. This month, San Francisco-based Littler Mendelson P.C., which says it has the "world's largest employment and labor law practice representing management," hired Douglas Christensen in its Minneapolis office. Christensen was chairman of Dorsey's national Labor and Employment Law Practice Group.

Dorsey has lost other partners in recent years to specialty-line firms that opened Twin Cities offices. And it recently lost New York partner Zachary Carter, a former federal prosecutor and co-chairman of Dorsey's white-collar crime practice, who started in January as top counsel to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Cutler said Dorsey's 2013 revenue rose more than 3 percent, or about $13 million, and profit per partner rose 5 percent to an unspecified six-figure amount.

The American Lawyer, which published a piece on its website about Dorsey recently, ranks the big law firms by revenue and profitability every spring.

Marianne Short, Cutler's predecessor as managing partner, left to work for a client in 2012. Cutler, 67, a 40-year Dorsey lawyer who was elected to a three-year term as the firm's top manager, credited Short with an economical new strategy. Dorsey uses a "legal mine" of contract lawyers it has vetted who bill at $75 per hour for certain case-support work rather than associate employees who bill at closer to $250 an hour.

"The clients love it because they get good service [cheaper] and it has helped us in litigation and merger and acquisition cases," Cutler said.

Dorsey, for years the state's largest law firm, has 565 attorneys. It was eclipsed by Faegre, which merged in late 2012 with an Indiana firm to become 740-lawyer Faegre Baker Daniels.

Dorsey recently signed a new multiyear lease that cedes two of six floors in an office tower on Sixth Street and the Nicollet Mall. Cutler said there are fewer people and less room is needed for law books, conference rooms, associate attorneys in the new era of online communications and contract attorneys.

The 154-year-old Schell's Brewery, which produces more than a dozen craft-quality beers, has retained the Minneapolis advertising and marketing agency Haberman to tell Schell's story that "We are German craft beer." The radio/print/digital/outdoor campaign began last week.

The ad campaign is Schell's second in the last three years. The brewer's previous relationship with the Minneapolis agency now known as PadillaCRT, ended early last year. Haberman was hired in the summer of 2013.

Schell President Ted Marti, the fifth generation of the New Ulm brewing family, said the new ad campaign is a shift for Schell's from marketing both Schell's beer and its Grain Belt line brew. "The challenge was that we were marketing two brands that compete in different markets and other craft brewers don't have to do that." Marti said in an interview. "We felt it was important to make a pretty significant shift to the Schell side."

Marti, who declined to disclose the brewer's marketing budget, said Schell's sales are upward of $30 million a year and have been growing annually for the last 10 to 15 years.

Shell's goal is to tap a younger demographic to complement its existing, older fan base. "Sometimes the older brewers are not as exciting so the challenge is to wrap that into a story for the younger beer drinker," said Marti.

David Phelps

• Stahl Construction has completed a $15 million renovation of a the 1980s-vintage, 240,000-square-foot hotel in Centre Village in Downtown.

Previously a Comfort Suites, Stahl Construction was hired by the owner, Summit Hotel Properties, to update the property, which has been converted to a more-contemporary Hyatt Place.

"This is truly a Cinderella story," said Larry Trowbridge, construction director of Summit Hotel Properties. "The conversion has been nothing short of phenomenal."

Hyatt Hotels Corp. has an agreement to manage the hotel. There are two other Hyatt Places in the Twin Cities, near the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and in Eden Prairie.

Said Gina Ciganik, an Aeon vice president. "We are hoping to learn more from others and to share what we have learned."

Aeon, which has built and renovated 2,000 units since 1986, expects to spend $130 million on utility bills over the next 20 years. It's been recognized for sustainable development practices. More information: www.aeonmn.com.