Sarah Shelander
Editor

On Wednesday, May 29 Dan Birkholz celebrated fifty years of practicing law in southern Minnesota. In June of 1974, after graduating from the University of Denver College of Law with his Jures doctorate degree, he and his wife moved to St. James, Watonwan County.

Dave Teigum the Watonwan County Attorney offered Birkholz his first job as the assistant Watonwan County Attorney. He served as the assistant for two years. During this time, Teigum was appointed the County Judge by Governor Anderson.

The Watonwan County Board of Commissioners appointed Birkholz to replace Teigum as County Attorney. He served as the County Attorney until 1998. While in Law School Birkholz said he planned to practice in real estate and wills, trusts, and probate matters. However, he thought he would prosecute for a few years.

That turned into a demanding position which he learned to love and enjoy. It was a daily challenge not just to get a conviction and jail time for the offender but also to see to it each and every person in the justice arena were treated fairly and with respect so that justice was done.

“In retrospect, it was a privilege to serve as the County Attorney and a very educational experience,” said Birkholz.

Working as the county attorney was not what Birkholz had in mind as a job after college, he was interested in real estate and will law while in school and thought he would go into that area of law. As the assistant and county attorney, he represented and worked with clients and cases which he learned and gained experience as a young attorney.

“When I got out of law school, I had no desire to be a prosecuting attorney, I wanted to write wills,” said Birkholz. “I said I will do this for two years and then go on to doing wills. Well, it did not turn out that way, it turned out to be a good thing because in the long term, I got to do a lot of good things and help people. I loved it and enjoyed being in criminal defense.”

There are many high-profile cases Birkholz mentioned he worked on through the years. First was the kidnapping of a local boy in the mid 70’s which resulted in him being found and returned to his family unharmed. The Peter Schoen first-degree murder trial of his wife in 1994 was a three-week trial ending with a first-degree murder conviction. Birkholz noted that Schoen was recently denied parole. The third case he spoke about was the Cecinto Coruara trial which was serval years after the Schoen trial. He was convicted of second-degree murder and was sent to prison.

All of the cases and trials helped Birkholz become a better trial attorney over the years. The goal was to make the towns of Watonwan County have safer communities to live in and raise a family.

Throughout his career Birkholz had an active private practice which being the County Attorney’s office it was limited to real estate and estate planning cases. However, after leaving the County Attorney’s office, his interest in real estate and estate planning matters continued but he focused his practice on criminal defense and family law matters.

Over the years Birkholz’s practice grew and grew. He hired Gloria Ecsledt as his first secretary in 1976, who faithfully ran the office for many years. “I had many employees but they were also friends and part of my family. I was so privileged to have such wonderful people to work with,” said Birkholz.

As his practice grew Birkholz had satellite offices in Darfur, Westbrook, and Mt. Lake. Over the years Mt. Lake and Darfur closed and just last week, the firm closed the Westbrook offices after 38 years. Birkholz said I loved practicing in small towns where your clients were also your friends.

“I have done this for a long time, and I have never gotten up in the morning and not wanted to go to work,” added Birkholz. “When I look back at my career, every day that I got up and could not wait to go to work. I was never bored in my entire life. For fifty years that is a pretty good statement.”

When he became a defense attorney Birkholz had prosecuted for 20 years. During those years he said he really learned being on the other side of the case what is fair and what is just. He found that there are a lot of nice people who get into the criminal justice system, and they are not bad people, they just did something wrong. A big thing for lawyers to learn Birkholz said was the difference between making a mistake and being a criminal.

Birkholz sold his practice to his son Jacob about 12 years ago. The current firm, Birkholz and Associates Law has five lawyers, four attorneys in Mankato and one in Westbrook area. Birkholz and Associates has grown enormously over the years, offering high-quality attorneys with years of experience and expertise.

Birkholz’s career in law has not always just been in his office or the courtroom. For the past eight years, he has been teaching at Bethany Lutheran College in their legal department, which is a program for students who want to go into law school, the criminal justice field or become a paralegal where they can learn more about law. He will continue to teach at Bethany after retiring from his law office in St. James which will go into the hands of Taliesen Burrows. Birkholz will also continue his favorite hobbies of golfing and sailing along with spending time with his family in retirement.