Lacee Bjork Anderson
by Jane Pribek
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Born: Jan. 31, 1980; Bismarck, N.D.
Education: William Mitchell College of Law, J.D., 2004; Concordia College, B.A., 2001
Employment: Special Counsel, attorney search director, 2006-present; Larson • King, associate, 2004-06
Professional Associations: American Bar Association, Minnesota State Bar Association, Minnesota Women Lawyers
Community Activities: Calvary Lutheran Church of Golden Valley
Hobbies/Interests: Family activities, reading, walking, working out
Personal: Husband, Matthew; one daughter
Special Counsel, formerly The Esquire Group
Education: William Mitchell College of Law, J.D., 2004; Concordia College, B.A., 2001
Employment: Special Counsel, attorney search director, 2006-present; Larson • King, associate, 2004-06
Professional Associations: American Bar Association, Minnesota State Bar Association, Minnesota Women Lawyers
Community Activities: Calvary Lutheran Church of Golden Valley
Hobbies/Interests: Family activities, reading, walking, working out
Personal: Husband, Matthew; one daughter
Find your bliss. It’s a mantra that Lacee Bjork Anderson follows, and helps others achieve as well.
Anderson is an attorney search director for Special Counsel, formerly The Esquire Group, who spends her days bringing together great companies and great people.
“We work closely with our clients — some of whom are large employers like 3M, UnitedHealth Group and Cargill — and their GCs. We help them find exceptional legal talent, sometimes from across the country, and we’ve even done a few international searches,” Anderson says.
“It’s a win-win for everybody: The companies are happy when they make a hire, the lawyers are excited to have a great new job and it’s very exciting for me to have facilitated it,” she says.
Anderson joined Special Counsel in 2006, after two years in litigation.
“I never really planned on being a litigator, but Larson • King was a good opportunity and I decided to try it for a few years,” she says. “Still, I never really found myself in the groove and enjoying it. So I asked myself if I was going to keep forcing it or try something else.”
As a new attorney, Anderson got involved with the Minnesota State Bar Association’s New Lawyers Section upon the urging of law school buddies. She discovered that she had a gift for building professional connections. That became the pathway to her new career in legal staffing.
“It’s just seemed like a natural progression for me, after all the networking and connections I’d made,” she says. “I just decided that life’s too short to be doing something you’re not enjoying. Now, a big part of my job is networking, meeting people and getting involved in the legal community. It’s a really positive environment, and much less stressful than most law firms. And it feels almost like we’re a family here. I can honestly say that I enjoy coming to work every day.”
Anderson has remained active in the New Lawyers Section throughout her career, as its former treasurer and current secretary, in addition to serving as section liaison to the Women in the Legal Profession Committee.
She has also been active in the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division. She represented Minnesota during the division’s 2007 spring conference in Montreal, which brought together lawyers from the U.S. and Canada. Anderson says she relished the opportunity, having majored in international relations and serving as president of the Association for International Law at William Mitchell.
More recently, she has become active with the Professional Development Committee in Minnesota Women Lawyers.
Anderson also actively volunteers at her church, Calvary Lutheran of Golden Valley. Her most recent endeavor there — no surprises here, given her talents and interests — is organizing a social and networking group for young professionals.
Anderson has a special attachment to her faith community — in the form of a wedding ring. She’s married to one of Calvary’s pastors, Matthew. They have a 2-year-old daughter, Laila, who occupies most, if not all, of their free time.
