Cliff Anderson is a partner with the firm and a Co-chair of the firm’s Employment Law Practice Group.  He is also a member of the firm’s Litigation and Appellate Practice Groups.  Over his 17 year legal career, his clients have included a variety of diverse small and large businesses as well as individuals. 
His primary areas of practice are focused in the following disciplines: 

• Employment litigation and advice;
• Complex commercial and business litigation and advice; and Appeals

Cliff’s legal career is marked by a consistent track record of success in complex employment and commercial litigation.  His achievements include winning results at every stage of the litigation process.  These include creative and successful uses of alternative dispute resolution (including pre-discovery) to achieve early, favorable, and desirable client outcomes. 

Cliff has also been involved in many early stage motion victories that often can end a case before a substantial escalation in legal fees occurs.  These typically have been as a result of bringing or defending against motions for temporary restraining orders and/or preliminary injunction motions.  Such cases have most often involved issues regarding the enforceability of non-competition and non-solicitation provisions in employment agreements and/or claims of misappropriation of trade secrets and/or confidential and proprietary information.

In such cases, the court must decide whether to allow or prevent the employee subject to the employment restrictions from working and, if so, under what conditions.  Cliff has also won numerous cases by bringing summary judgment motions following the close of the discovery phase of litigation, which also achieves substantial savings for his clients by winning the case before trial.  Finally, Cliff has been involved in multiple trial wins in complex litigated matters and has substantial experience successfully preserving his litigation victories on appeal. 

Cliff’s practice also encompasses providing sound, thoughtful, and trusted legal advice regarding a wide range of diverse employment and commercial law issues.  He emphasizes a proactive, not reactive, decision-making and problem solving approach to ensure his clients avoid unnecessary litigation while preparing them to be well positioned to achieve outstanding results if litigation does ensue.
In employment-related matters, he has represented both employers and employees.  Cliff’s employment litigation practice has included the successful defense of claims brought pursuant to federal civil rights statutes such as Title VII and 42 U.S.C. § 1981, the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), the Minnesota Human Rights Act (“MHRA”), claims of misappropriation of trade secrets and proprietary and confidential information including pursuant to the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, and claims pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 181.01 et seq. that sets forth the key employment-related statutes under Minnesota law, as well as claims of retaliation, constructive discharge, intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of contract, and intentional interference with contract, among others.  In this area of his practice, Cliff has achieved numerous victories in both federal and state court for his corporate clients including pre-trial summary judgment motion dismissals in age, disability, and race discrimination cases.

With respect to his employment advice practice, Cliff provides reliable counsel to his clients with regards to all facets of employment law.  His expertise includes providing advice about the hiring, discipline, and termination of employees and includes the drafting and review of employment agreements, separation agreements, and guidance regarding compliance with the myriad federal and state statutes that impact the employer-employee relationship. 

In business and commercial litigation, Cliff’s has been engaged to handle cases involving contract claims and a variety of business tort claims including corporate raiding, breach of fiduciary duty, negligent representation, fraud, defamation, product disparagement, unfair competition, unjust enrichment, and other similar claims.  He has also represented many corporate clients to enforce provisions of the federal Lanham Act and comparable state statutes.  In two such lawsuits, Cliff’s clients, who were each respectively the original suing plaintiff, achieved outstanding jury verdict victories with awards in excess of $4.5 million while the defendant’s respective substantial counterclaims were dismissed either pre-trial by summary judgment motion or following the jury’s verdict.  At the other extreme, Cliff has significant experience working with large defense teams including one that successfully defended a $1.3 billion suit principally alleging usurpation of corporate opportunity, breach of contract, and breach of fiduciary duty, among other claims.

Cliff has been involved in appellate litigation before the Minnesota Court of Appeals and various federal circuits including the United States Supreme Court.  He is admitted to practice law in the state and federal courts of Minnesota and Wisconsin, several other federal district courts throughout the country, the United States Court of Appeals for the First, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Circuits, and the United States Supreme Court. 

Cliff is a member of the Federal Bar Association, the Minnesota State Bar Association, and the State Bar of Wisconsin.  In his early years as a young lawyer, Cliff was repeatedly honored by Minnesota Law & Politics, having been selected as a “Rising Star” in several past issues of the publication.  More recently, Cliff received the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights 2005 Volunteer Award for his substantial criminal appeal pro bono work that is just one of many substantive areas of the law that Cliff has engaged in over the years on a pro bono basis.  Cliff is currently a board member of Family & Children’s Service and recently completed a three year term as a board member for the Edina Soccer Club.

Cliff joined Hellmuth & Johnson in 2009, and prior to joining the firm, he was an attorney with one of Minnesota’s largest and most prestigious law firms.  Before commencing his legal practice, Cliff served two years (1992-1994) as a law clerk to Senior United States District Court Judge Myron L. Gordon in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

Cliff obtained his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, graduating cum laude, and was both a Member and an Articles Editor for the Wisconsin Law Review.  His Case Note, “State v. Louis:  A Missed Opportunity to Clarify When Law Enforcement Officials May Serve as Petit Jurors in Criminal Trials,” 1992 Wis. L. Rev. 751, was published during his third year of law school.  Cliff received his B.A. from Carleton College in Economics with a Political Economy Concentration.  He graduated cum laude and with Distinction in Economics.