Toni L. Halleen

Toni L Halleen is the co-owner and Chief Operating Officer of Schaefer Halleen, a position she has held since 2013.

Toni has practiced employment law since graduating from law school in 1988. The field appeals to her because in our society, our jobs can be core to our identity and well-being. Even in her early years in the 70s and 80s, Toni remembers being drawn to ideals of justice, fairness, and social equality in attending anti-discrimination marches, participating in school activism, and admiring the political satire of the Smothers Brothers (and others).

Ms. Halleen began her legal career as an attorney with Briggs and Morgan law firm, where she practiced employment law for many years both in litigation and in advising clients. When she started a family, Toni moved to an in-house position at ADC Telecommunications in Eden Prairie. As Director of Employment Law for ADC, Toni worked with leaders and managers across the company (and around the world) to shape employment policies and decisions affecting thousands of workers in the telecom industry. The creativity and collaboration of the corporate environment invigorated Toni and allowed her to develop keen business insight and cross-departmental skills.

At the same time, Toni was honing her skills in her avocation, which was inspired by the Smothers Brothers: comedy/music/writing. Toni studied, performed and taught improv classes in Minneapolis, which training later served as the basis for her Fun with Law business and the professional skills course she developed and delivered to hundreds of professionals called “Think on the Spot.”

Toni also learned to play guitar and wrote several songs about law and politics, performing some of them on TV’s Almanac and at private law-related and HR functions. Toni’s full-length musical, “Soulless, Bloodsucking Lawyers” played to sold-out audiences and won “Best Musical” at the Minneapolis Fringe Festival.

Toni decided to leave ADC in 2002 in order to join The General Counsel Ltd., which allowed her to freelance as an in-house employment attorney for a number of different companies, while also developing her Fun with Law business and delivering “Think on the Spot” workshops across the country and in Canada. Toni is a national speaker at conferences and professional meetings on communication topics, as well as employment law topics, and she has been an adjunct professor for many years at William Mitchell School of Law (now Mitchell Hamline).

Ms. Halleen’s career path has affected her approach to working with clients by enriching her perspective on employment law (seeing both defense and plaintiff perspectives) as well as establishing in her a deep understanding of creative problem solving. Toni’s client service skills and her appreciation for connecting with others been enhanced by working with hundreds of employees and professionals in a range of functions and in a variety of organizations. Through her teaching, Toni has interacted with many different communication styles, implemented deep listening strategies and utilized non-verbal communication tools.

Education

• Juris Doctorate Degree, cum laude, University of Minnesota Law School, 1988
• Mini-MBA, Creative Problem Solving, University of St Thomas, 2000
• Bachelor of Arts, Mount Holyoke College, 1984