Partner Marc Betinsky

About Marc

Marc Betinsky brings unique perspective to the practice of law.  After graduating from Cornell Law School in 1998, Marc served stints as a commercial litigator and employment lawyer with large east-coast law firms before spending the next fourteen years as a law clerk in the federal-court system, including 11 years as the career law clerk for U.S. District Judge Richard H. Kyle in St. Paul.  There, Marc was the chief advisor on all cases pending before Judge Kyle, running the gamut from personal injury to civil rights to employment discrimination to product liability, in addition to the full panoply of federal criminal cases. Marc’s tenure with the federal courts not only honed his legal-writing skills and deep familiarity with the rules governing litigation, but also provided him with significant insight into judicial decision-making — or as he likes to call it, “how the sausage gets made.”

Understanding what resonates with a judge and what doesn’t helps to make Marc an extremely effective advocate, and he has successfully employed his skills since returning to private practice in 2018. He has handled several high-profile civil-rights cases in that time, including representing three victims of brutality committed by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin and two Los Angeles Times journalists attacked by the Minnesota State Patrol while covering protests following George Floyd’s murder. Marc has also achieved significant results on behalf of inmates whose serious medical needs were ignored, including representing the family of a 19-year-old woman who died in a rural North Dakota jail due to the effects of methamphetamine toxicity. The family accepted a $2 million offer of judgment, at the time believed to be the largest known outcome for a jail-death case in North Dakota history. Besides constitutional and civil-rights cases, Marc also has represented clients in personal-injury, employment, sexual-abuse, and product-liability matters, in both state and federal courts.

Marc’s achievements have not gone unnoticed.  In 2023, he was named a Minnesota Attorney of the Year for his civil-rights work.  He has been repeatedly listed in The Best Lawyers in America and was named one of the 500 Leading Civil Rights & Plaintiff Employment Lawyers in the United States by Lawdragon each year from 2023 to 2025.  In 2022, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota appointed Marc as one of twelve members of a Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Panel, helping to screen and recommend candidates for a federal judgeship. But recognition is not what drives him; most of all, Marc enjoys being a trusted resource and willing ear to help people navigate the most difficult times in their lives.

Outside of the office, Marc is an avid sports fan, especially cheering on his alma mater, the University of Florida.  Marc majored in math at UF, where he was the lone math tutor for the Gators’ athletic teams and tutored many individuals who went on to long professional sports careers.