Attorney General Ellison names Dana Mitchell as Deputy Attorney General

August 22, 2023 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced today that he has named Dana Mitchell as Deputy Attorney General in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. Ms. Mitchell will step into the role left by Deputy Attorney General Luz María Frías, who is retiring on September 29 after a 30-year career in the law, public service, and community service, including the last three years with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. Ms. Mitchell will oversee the Government Support Section of the Office, which provides legal support to a wide range of State of Minnesota agencies, boards, and commissions.

“I want again to thank Luz María Frías for being such a tremendous asset to the Attorney General’s Office, the State of Minnesota, and the people of our state, and for helping the Office walk through three years of great upheaval with integrity and compassion. Dana Mitchell shares Luz’s values, her legal acumen, and her passion for working in and with community,” Attorney General Ellison said. “Dana, a Minnesotan with deep roots here, is deeply committed to the people of our state. She is smart, capable, and an excellent lawyer, of course, and she is much more: she is someone who works relationally, is an active member of community, understands the importance of representing State agencies well, and applies an equity lens to everything that we do. In just a few short months, she’s proven herself to be a tremendous asset in the Attorney General’s Office. We’re all very proud of her and know she’s going to do a wonderful job as Deputy Attorney General.”

Ms. Mitchell currently serves as the manager of the Public Safety Division of the Attorney General’s Office, which she joined in April 2023. In her current role, she manages a body of work related to implied consents, driver licenses, forfeitures, titles, appellate advocacy, citizen inquires, and representation to state agencies and boards. Immediately prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Ms. Mitchell served as an assistant Ramsey County attorney for many years, where she worked in the areas of employment law, juvenile prosecution, and human services, among others. She has also worked as a public defender, qualified neutral, and mediator, as well as a staff attorney for a federally appointed court monitor, which resulted in a $1.25 billion settlement for Black farmers. She is a former law clerk with the Office of the Counsel to the President at the White House.

Ms. Mitchell is the current president of Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers. As president, Dana worked to pass a $700,000 state appropriation to support a pathway to law school for Minnesota college students. She served this year as the Minnesota co-chair of the 98th Annual Conference of the National Bar Association, which is the nation's oldest and largest national network of predominantly African American attorneys.

Ms. Mitchell graduated with a joint J.D./M.S.W. degree from the University of Minnesota Law School and School of Social Work. She was a Bush Fellow at the University of Minnesota School of Social Work. She has also been an adjunct professor at Mitchell–Hamline School of Law and currently serves as an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.

Ms. Mitchell serves on several community committees and recently served on the Minnesota Supreme Court Task Force on supervised practice. She has been recognized as a 2023 Honored Listee with Marquis Who’s Who, a 2022 Minnesota Lawyer Diversity and Inclusion Honoree, and a 2022 Minnesota African American Heritage Calendar Honoree, and received the Ramsey County Attorney's Office Employee (C.A.R.E.) Mentor Award.

“I joined the Attorney General’s Office as a division manager to serve the mission, values, and goals of helping Minnesotans afford their lives and live with dignity, safety, and respect. I am excited to provide inclusive, innovative, and collaborative leadership in my new role as a Deputy Attorney General,” Ms. Mitchell said. “I was a first-year law student when I first met Keith Ellison. His dedication to public service inspired me then and inspires me today. This feels like a full-circle moment in which I get to live aloud my passion for public service,” Ms. Mitchell continued.