MacKenzie Lee Hertz

MacKenzie, a shareholder in our Fargo office, is the Chair of the firm’s Employment and Labor Practice Group. She is an employer-side attorney who helps employers stay ahead of workplace challenges and defends them when disputes arise.

Working side by side with Human Resources (HR) teams, executives, and business owners across the region, MacKenzie counsels on workplace policies and compliance, employment contract negotiation and drafting, leave and accommodation requests, discrimination, harassment, and retaliation complaints, discipline and termination, wage-and-hour (FLSA) issues, and non-compete and non-solicitation agreements. She also conducts internal investigations. Her clients value practical and strategic advice that weighs legal risk against the realities of running a business.

MacKenzie has successfully defended employers against dozens of administrative charges before agencies such as the U.S. EEOC, the North Dakota Department of Labor and Human Rights, and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, and she defends employers in federal and state court. As a former federal judicial clerk to judges on the Eighth Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska, MacKenzie draws on her unique federal insight to counsel clients. She regularly speaks and trains on emerging employment law developments.

An alumna of the University of Nebraska and the University of Jamestown, MacKenzie is a native of Mott, North Dakota, where her family farms.

MacKenzie graduated with High Distinction from the University of Nebraska College of Law in 2018 and magna cum laude from the University of Jamestown in 2015 with a degree in political science and a minor in history. In law school, MacKenzie served as the Executive Editor for the Nebraska Law Review and competed nationally for the National Moot Court Team. She was elected to the Order of the Coif and the Order of the Barristers in recognition of her achievements.

MacKenzie is originally from Mott, North Dakota, where her family farms. She loves basketball, the outdoors, and spending time with family, friends, and her husband, Ryan.