Brendan Kenny

Brendan M. Kenny is a seasoned litigator with 19 years of experience in administrative, state, federal, and appellate courts, including at the Minnesota and California Attorney General’s Office. Whether it is administrative law, business law, commercial and contractual disputes, real-estate conflicts, probate matters, or insurance coverage, Brendan has the experience and the passion to deliver exceptional results for his clients. He is also a recognized leader and innovator in legal writing and persuasion, sharing his insights and best practices through publications, presentations, and podcasts. Brendan is also a husband and a father of six. A Californian by birth, he is a Minnesotan by choice.

Brendan’s passion for advocacy started at a young age. In his rural California hometown, he saw first-hand what happens to a community when powerful political, economic, and social forces converge to destroy a way of life. Now as a lawyer, Brendan is driven to be what he couldn’t be in his youth: a voice for those who can’t speak for themselves; a skilled advocate who understands the inner workings of the legal system; and a knowledgeable guide for those who don’t know the way.

Brendan’s commitment to justice for his clients and identification with their challenges, needs, and goals permeates everything he does. That’s why clients so often use words like “tireless,” “attentive,” “a great listener,” and “unwavering” to describe Brendan’s commitment to them and their legal matters. His professional journey involves legal practice in several states, state and federal and administrative courts, and many areas of the law. And his clients can attest that his unusual breadth of expertise allows him to flexibly and creatively help them in ways that lawyers with more traditional backgrounds cannot.

Before coming to Hellmuth & Johnson in January 2022, he worked at the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office as an Assistant Attorney General. This involved representing the Minnesota Department of Human Services in federal, state, and administrative matters involving civil rights, health care, ADA, children-and-family services, mental health, licensing, and disqualification based on maltreatment and background studies. He also tried or resolved cases involving alleged overpayments to programs, agencies, and providers under the Minnesota Health Care Program and Child Care Assistance Program.

For the first seven years of his legal career, Brendan worked first as outside counsel for businesses and public entities, and then as a Deputy Attorney General at the California Attorney General’s Office.

In 2012, he moved to Minnesota from California. He worked at a law firm in Minneapolis from 2012 to 2020, where he handled complex mass torts, product liability, class actions, and business and commercial litigation for Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies. This work included false-advertising and trademark-infringement claims, suits involving popcorn-lung and cooking-spray injuries, one of the Twin Cities’ largest groundwater contamination cases in recent years, and a multi-municipal action regarding flushable wipes.

Brendan is also a sought-after speaker and writer on legal writing, eDiscovery, trial practice, storytelling, and all things persuasion. He is co-author of the Minnesota E-Discovery Deskbook (since 2016).