Dan O'Keefe '78: Mitchell Helped Him Build a Resume That Adds Up

A calculator. That's what stood between Dan O'Keefe '78 and a summer clerkship at Dorsey & Whitney, a job no student in William Mitchell's history had yet attained.

"When I interviewed at Dorsey for the summer clerkship, they weren't used to hiring people who were coming out of a night-school setting," Dan recalls. "And I remember one of the partners who interviewed me actually took out a calculator and added up the number of hours: I was working full time. I was taking a full course load. I was doing law review. I was doing moot court. He just wanted to check whether there were enough hours in the week to do everything on my resume."

Although time for sleep was lacking, the numbers added up and Dan got the clerkship. Dan is quick to point out that his packed schedule was not unique. Almost all William Mitchell students from his era worked full time while attending law school at night. It's an experience he remembers fondly: "Hard for all of us, but fun, too, in an odd way."

And it's that experience—being able to gain practical legal experience both through his law school studies and through working while in law school—that he credits for his successful and fulfilling legal career. It's also why he and his wife of 38 years, Mary, have been longtime contributors to William Mitchell’s, and now Mitchell Hamline's, annual fund and the incentive behind their estate gift that goes toward a scholarship at Mitchell Hamline.

In 2004, the O'Keefes created the O'Keefe Family Endowed Scholarship for Editors of the Law Review. In 2010, they added substantial support for their scholarship through their will. The O'Keefes, who have four adult children, are thoughtful on how they donate. Dan says he and Mary, an author, speaker, radio show host, and co-founder and president of Well Within, a Minnesota nonprofit holistic health resource center, make the decisions together.

"We all have to decide where we spend our limited resources," Dan says, explaining why he and Mary contribute to Mitchell Hamline. "Mary shares my sentiments on how important Mitchell Hamline has been to us. For many of us, I think the years spent at William Mitchell were formative. Our experiences and our friendships from that time benefitted us throughout our careers. It's a worthy choice, and there is definitely a need there. We want to keep Mitchell Hamline as first in the region, and that's good for all of us. To do that, alumni support is a key attribute."

Dan enrolled at William Mitchell after graduating from the University of St. Thomas with a double major in economics and business finance. He felt right at home.

"Mitchell is really where I came into my own a little bit. It was just a great experience, starting with Mike Steenson's first-year tort class. I just fell in love with the law," he says.

At that time, Professor Steenson had just helped students start the William Mitchell Law Review. Dan was on the staff for volumes two, three, and four. Half-awake, he worked late at night performing site checks and proofing copies, but, he says, those late-night hours provide some of his fondest memories of law school.

"It was just a lot of fun to build something, to be part of a group helping to build a tradition of excellence on the Law Review that still very much continues to this day," he says.

Upon graduating, Dan had the credentials to earn a two-year federal judicial clerkship with Judge Edward Devitt, Chief Judge for U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, known and respected across the nation. Dan was the first in a long list of Mitchell Hamline graduates to clerk for Devitt, a position he says was in many respects the best job he ever had. From there, Dan went to Dorsey & Whitney, where he became partner and practiced in commercial litigation, with an emphasis on reinsurance and insurance coverage disputes. In 1996, after 16 years at Dorsey, Dan began the second half of his career where he still works today—general counsel at what is now AON Benfield in Bloomington, Minnesota, a division of the Chicago-based AON Corporation that focuses on insurance, reinsurance, human resources consulting, and capital advising.

Dan, who is the chair of Mitchell Hamline's board of trustees and on the advisory board for the law school's Center for Law and Business, says he feels very fortunate for his career.

"I really have a strong sense of loyalty to Mitchell Hamline for everything it's done for me and for my career," he says. He hopes his contributions will help keep the law school strong and assist students, while also honoring Professor Steenson and the law review.

And he hopes his service as a trustee and advisory board member and his financial gifts will help continue the tradition of Mitchell Hamline students boasting resumes that beg for a calculator check.

Learn How You Can Help

If you would like to learn about the many ways you can make a planned gift that could benefit William Mitchell, contact Leslie A. Wright at 651-290-6355 or leslie.wright@mitchellhamline.edu.