Brian Joseph Clausen

Brian Clausen was my attorney in 2018 as I lived through a divorce and custody trial. Thankful is the first word that comes to mind when I look back at that season of my life. Thankful that Brian was in my corner for my children and I. Thankful for his constant professionalism, proactive preparation, and open communication. I never had to question what he was doing or how he was going about it – he explained my options so thoroughly and helped me see the consequences (good or bad) with every potential action. He helped keep my head in the right place as I navigated the most emotional and stressful time in my life. He stood with me and for me. He treated me with respect and understanding. I walked away from the experience, not only with my children, but with many lessons learned from Brian that I use today in my career and interpersonal relationships. Brian is exactly who you need and want in your corner as you navigate this road.

Brian Clausen is the toughest, most diligent, responsive, experienced, honest, respectful, and hard-working attorney I have ever had the pleasure of working with (and I am one). I came to Brian with a difficult legal situation and less than a week to prepare to litigate it, and Brian was on. The. Ball. He was in constant communication with me, had researched all the relevant legal nuances, prepped me for the hearing, and had an excellent defense prepared. Fortunately, he did not need it—Brian also recognized that the best solution for me, and indeed, all parties in this situation was a creative settlement that he crafted before we even walked into the courthouse. I went in to the hearing hoping that for that settlement, but confident that Brian would be the legal bulldog I needed in that situation if it was not agreed to. Brian’s knowledge and experience with the Dakota courts and the Judge we were assigned were invaluable as well. If you are looking for a tough, experienced, knowledgeable, creative attorney that will actually answer your calls and emails—you can stop looking now. Brian’s your guy. I highly recommend this penultimate professional.

I have been a client of Brian Clausen for various family law and parenting issues from 2000 to 2014. Brian has always worked on any issues that I have presented to him in a very diligent and professional manner. I have always appreciated his thorough approach, and his steadfast follow through. He is extremely knowledgeable in the area of family law, and I always feel confident that he is taking the appropriate steps with any and all of my issues. He consistently responds to all of my questions in a timely manner. Any person would feel confident with Brian as their counsel.

Brian demonstrated strong expertise throughout my proceedings, demonstrating both compassion in understanding my needs, as well as strength of conviction to help me make some decisions at various stages during the process. In addition to helping me develop a detailed and effective parenting plan, he also helped navigate through some additional matters to enforce the legal agreement. I have also appreciated Brian's willingness to offer advice on mediators or other unusual circumstances that have come up. Highly recommended.

I would highly recommend Brian for any of the areas of law that he practices. Specifically for me he helped with my divorce. At all times during my divorce I was confident that Brian had my best interest in mind. He has a high level of knowledge about the law and does a great job of explaining it in terms that anyone can understand. He is very honest and realistic when he is laying out the facts of your case and at no time did I ever feel he wanted to move my case to court. While I was confident in Brian if my case went to trial he made every effort to successfully settle the case outside of court. I trusted Brian throughout the entire process. He was very accessible throughout the process and was easy to work with during something that is very stressful for anyone going through it. My divorce has been finalized for 5 year and Brian has still be dedicated to my case when anything has come up. If you are looking for an honest, hard working attorney you can trust contact Brian.

Brian helped me gain custody of my children, and remove them from what was a very dangerous situation. He was amazingly committed and professional with my case. Could not have asked for better representation.

Brian Clausen was referred to me through a trusted colleague. I am please to say, it was a smart and sound decision to hire him based on that referral. In dealing with a difficult custody situation, Brian has provided me, and my family, a superior level of confidence and trust with his vast knowledge of the law and his dedication to my case. Finding and hiring an attorney is not an easy process, I am thankful I was referred to Brian Clausen and would highly recommend him!

Brian represented me on and off over 10 years in a very emotionally changed case where I had to fight repeatedly for visitation and ultimately custody of my child. Brian was professional, insightful, and dedicated to my case. He and his assistants were always quick to respond to any question, concerns, and recommendations by both phone and email. In my change of custody case, Brian built a strong case along every relevant legal factor considered for a change of custody. His strategy paid dividends in overcoming a biased guardian ad litem who, despite clear legal and medically documented physical, emotional, and psychological abuse, along with evidence of neglect, recommended that the child remain with the mother. His attention to detail and clear articulation during the court proceeding enabled the judge to make a well-defined and sound decision in my favor. Brian has also provided me with effective legal counsel for proceeding with a change of name for my minor child. This enabled me to properly file and personally represent my child in a change of name proceeding. I highly recommend Brian Clausen if you want to ensure you have the strongest case possible to be argued in court or to allow you to negotiate from a position of strength. Brian’s fees are reasonable, fair, and worth every cent.

Brian represented me on and off over 10 years in a very emotionally changed case where I had to fight repeatedly for visitation and ultimately custody of my child. Brian was professional, insightful, and dedicated to my case. He and his assistants were always quick to respond to any question, concerns, and recommendations by both phone and email. In my change of custody case, Brian built a strong case along every relevant legal factor considered for a change of custody. His strategy paid dividends in overcoming a biased guardian ad litem who, despite clear legal and medically documented physical, emotional, and psychological abuse, along with evidence of neglect, recommended that the child remain with the mother. His attention to detail and clear articulation during the court proceeding enabled the judge to make a well-defined and sound decision in my favor. Brian has also provided me with effective legal counsel for proceeding with a change of name for my minor child. This enabled me to properly file and personally represent my child in a change of name proceeding. I highly recommend Brian Clausen if you want to ensure you have the strongest case possible to be argued in court or to allow you to negotiate from a position of strength. Brian’s fees are reasonable, fair, and worth every cent.

Brian handled my case with great care, sensitivity, and professionalism which I greatly appreciated during this tough time in my life. He was very detailed oriented and provided honest advice at all the steps of the process. He reviewed all the documents with me and explained all the confusing legal language in a manner that I could understand. I always felt that I could pick up the phone and call him if I had any questions. He made sure that he was looking out for my best interest. I would highly recommend Brian to my close family and friends!

There are only a handful of people in life that you never forget. Brian Clausen is one of them. At one of the most difficult times in my life he provided unwavering legal representation that helped me keep my kids and myself safe. Not only did he win, he taught me how to win as well. There aren't words strong enough to describe my respect and appreciation for his work as an attorney and his compassion and warmth as a person. He saved my children from further abuse and single handed-ly gave me my life and mental freedom back by helping me fight a ruthless opponent with free legal resources.

Brian represented me in custody modification matters. He was consistently prepared, responsive to my calls, and readily able to answer all my questions in what was a very disturbing chapter in my life. He understands MN family law both broadly and deeply. As an attorney (not professionally involved in family law), I appreciate Brian's knowledge of the law. As a mother and a client I appreciate his responsiveness and timely answers to my questions.

After investing $20,000 into Brian he did not finish everything needed for my divorce. He needed some paperwork from me that he repeatedly requested when I was on vacation. When I got back I had a certified letter from him stating that since I did not get the required paperwork to him he had no choice but to drop me as his client. During that time I did not receive one email or phone call from him, just letters. Now everything is left undone (quit claim and quadro) because my ex is not going to pay his attorney to do it. Many times I felt like I was just dollar signs to him and not an actual person. He is not very personable.

I originally was referred to an assistant of the firm that just graduated from law school by my brother who also practices law. He didn't want to represent me due to the conflict of interest from shared property. She failed her ethics test and was let go from the firm. I had already fill out all the paperwork and had all my statements in order. So I decided to meet with him on my case. When I asked him how much he expected the divorce to run after he went over the billable terms; He stated, $5,000 if we don't have to go to court and over $10,000 if it gets really ugly. I am 30 without kids or a huge estate. Though it sounded a little high it didn't seem too bad. So we went forward and I put down a $3,000.00 replenish-able retainer. We served Heidi papers. She got a lawyer and they decided not to start with mediation. So we went to court for the initial meeting where they establish a meeting with a mediator. This a meeting that last less then 30 min and nothing is decided on. He then told me that they had agreed to go through "due diligence". Which I said OK. I then talked to my soon be ex-wife about coming to an agreement without Brian. In the mean time his assistants re-requested all the information I had already gave him and up to date statements. Which was work I was required to redo and was billed for. We went through that $3,000.00 and I replenished it plus paid the amount I was already over by. I came to an agreement and told Brian the terms of the divorce. We canceled the court ordered meeting and started the paperwork. The whole time I got tons of mail on things that I didn't care for or need. All of which I was billed for. We were nearing $9,000.00 and I told him that I couldn't afford him if we where going to break this amount. He told me that there should be enough to cover the last of it. Needless to say I got a bill for a little over $400.00 that amount. I had paid it thinking it was the last amount. But that was not the case. I just got one more bill for $250. Thanks Brian for blowing through the $5,000 amount like it was water, creating un-needed work for me and billing me for more than everything.

Much time was spent up front gathering documents before filing-then the same docs were needed after filing, resulting in duplicate work and additional billing. There were several times when multiple calls and emails were made requesting the same info-also padding the billing. Mr. Clausen did not fully inform me in the late stages regarding financial documents that impacted the bottom line for what I would owe my former spouse. He also said he would write the j&d and in the end the opposing atty wrote it and we ended up capitulating to some significant items that were not part of negotiation. Overall, I believe that divorce lawyers are effective at padding the bills and making tactical errors (some of which may just be an unavoidable part of the process). But some of the agreements made were not accomplished (writing the j&d) that were significant and there was significant duplication of work and billing. I would not recommend this lawyer.