Mr. Knaak has been practicing law for nearly 45 years in Minnesota and 30 in Wisconsin and Colorado. He is the head of Municipal and Real Estate Development Law with Northstar Law Group. Mr. Knaak has tried cases and argued appeals throughout the country in both State and Federal Courts. For nearly that whole period he has been a city attorney. Past clients include the Minnesota cities of Fridley, Maplewood, Lake Elmo, Newport and Afton. He is currently city attorney for Ramsey and Taylors Falls, Minnesota, and continues to represent private clients on a variety of matters. Mr. Knaak also has considerable experience in litigation involving title insurance claims and title insurance. He served ten years in the Minnesota Senate, representing a district in the northeastern suburbs of the Twin Cities. Mr. Knaak was Special Counsel to the Minnesota Secretary of State in redistricting litigation and was lead counsel on the Senator Norm Coleman election recount. He is a frequent commentator on Twin City news programs on political matters and is a frequent guest political panelist of the Twin Cities Public Television Almanac program. Mr. Knaak also regularly teaches in national seminars on municipal law and has published a number of essays and articles on various topics. His article “Using Development Agreements to Further Environmental Ends: A Case Study” will be published this summer in the ABA’s Probate and Real Property Section magazine. Mr. Knaak earned his B.A. degree, summa cum laude, from John’s University, and his J.D. degree from the University of Minnesota Law School.

Mr. Morphew is 1998 graduate of the University of Nebraska College of Law. He has been practicing primarily in the areas of real estate law, eminent domain law and relocation benefits law for the past 23 years. Mr. Morphew has done numerous bench trials, jury trials and appellate litigation cases on in these areas of law and has been a featured presenter at numerous seminars on these topics. He currently serves as the Vice-President of the Monticello Economic Development Authority and is the past President of the Minnesota Eminent Domain Institute, as well as a past board member of FiberNet Monticello, a community-owned fiber optics telecommunications company.

Ms. Ostlie has been a real estate attorney for over twenty years with a career spanning both litigation and transactional practices. She is a board-certified real property specialist through the Minnesota State Bar Association. Ms. Ostlie began her legal career with title examination and facilitating residential, commercial and new construction closings. Thereafter, she moved to a real estate boutique law firm where she became a recommended attorney for title curative work and insurance claims. She subsequently managed the litigation department at a major Minnesota foreclosure and creditors’ rights law firm, handling hundreds of cases concerning foreclosure, eviction, and creditor’s rights. Ms. Ostlie has argued and won real estate cases before the Minnesota Supreme Court and the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2018, she began working as senior underwriting counsel at a national title insurance company, where she collaborated with fortune 500 companies and national law firms to close commercial real estate transactions across the country. Most recently, Ms. Ostlie returned to private practice to handle real estate litigation with a former colleague and top real estate attorney. Effective April, 2024, she took the leap to begin her solo practice law firm to continue helping clients with real property law matters. She has significant experience with easement and land disputes, purchase and sale transactions, commercial leasing, contracts for deed, quiet title actions and Torrens proceedings, partition actions, lien priority disputes, foreclosures, evictions, and complex title problems. Ms. Ostlie earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota-Morris, and her J.D. degree, cum laude, from William Mitchell College of Law.

Mr. Squires received his B.A. degree from the University of Minnesota, Duluth and his J.D. degree from William Mitchell College of Law. Prior to founding RASW, he was an associate and shareholder at Ratwik, Roszak & Maloney, P.A.  Mr. Squires represents school districts, counties and cities throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. His primary areas of practice and experience include general municipal and school law, real estate, land use and zoning, condemnation, construction disputes, and municipal litigation, including appellate work.  Mr. Squires has argued over 50 cases to Minnesota’s Appellate Courts. He has been a frequent presenter to professional groups and organizations in the areas of his practice.  Mr. Squires is a Real Property Specialist certified by the Minnesota State Bar Association and is licensed to practice in both federal and state courts in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

 Mr. Steinhoff focuses his practice on civil litigation, real estate and land use. He represents parties in civil litigation in both state and federal court relating to many different types of real estate and debtor-creditor issues, including, but not limited to, landlord-tenant disputes, debt collection, mortgage foreclosures, lien foreclosures, title registrations, title defects, boundary disputes, insurance coverage, breaches of contract, construction defects, property damage, condemnation, inverse condemnation, property taxes, special assessments, and all manner of land use issues. In addition to his litigation practice, he assists clients in the preparation and submission of many types of land use applications, including, but not limited to, re-zoning applications, re-guiding applications, conditional use permit applications, interim use permit applications, variance applications, preliminary and final plat applications, appeals from administrative decisions, and wetlands applications. As noted, he represents parties in trial and appellate court litigation relating to land use and zoning approvals, denials and enforcement actions. Mr. Steinhoff is a graduate of the United States Military Academy and was formerly an infantry officer in the United States Army. He is also a graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School.