Former RamCo attorney joins Gray Plant Mooty

Four-term Ramsey County Attorney and one-time DFL gubernatorial contender Susan Gaertner is going upscale. She's joined Minneapolis blue-chip law firm Gray Plant Mooty.

The firm says she'll join a team of trial lawyers who have done criminal and civil matters in federal and state courts. "Gaertner's practice will focus on litigation, complex investigations, and white collar defense," says the GPM release. "Among others matters, she will represent clients in government investigations by local, state and federal agencies."

So, after four terms of putting people behind bars, she'll spend a few years trying to keep them out.

"It's a little more complicated than that," Gaertner said in an interview. "I don't expect to be defending any violent offenders. But there is an enhanced environment right now, there is more activity going on in terms of government activity and investigations... I know how the government thinks. I was part of it for years."

Gaertner was first elected in 1994 to succeed Tom Foley. Gaertner decided not to run for re-election in 2010 and was an aspirant for the DFL endorsement during the last gubernatorial scrum. She was succeeded at Ramsey County by former St. Paul City Attorney John Choi.

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