Forsgren Fisher announces the addition of veteran attorney Sarah Crippen, who joined the firm on June 1, 2026. Crippen brings more than three decades of high-level civil litigation and employment-law expertise to the firm. 

Crippen joins the firm following a distinguished 35-year tenure at Best & Flanagan, where she was a partner from 1998 to 2026 and served as the firm’s managing partner from 2016 to 2023. An MSBA Certified Labor and Employment Specialist, Crippen has spent her career representing clients across a wide array of industries in complex labor and employment disputes, trials, collective-bargaining negotiations, and administrative agency proceedings.  She also brings a robust investigation practice and work as a mediator to her new role at Forsgren Fisher.

“We are thrilled to welcome Sarah to our team,” said Managing Partner Bob Gilbertson. “Her stellar reputation as an employment specialist and her extensive leadership experience make her an invaluable asset. Sarah is a wonderful addition to our robust investigations practice, and her long history as an employment counselor and litigator fits beautifully with our trial practice.”

At Forsgren Fisher, Crippen will expand her established practice in conducting sensitive internal investigations and serving as a civil mediator, while continuing to handle litigation, equal employment agency matters, and employment advice and training. She has extensive experience investigating complex workplace and ethics concerns—including discrimination complaints, harassment claims, and code-of-conduct violations—for both public entities and private organizations, including Fortune 100 corporations. As a Minnesota Rule 14 Qualified Neutral, she will also use her deep background as an advocate in alternative dispute resolution to assist parties as a mediator and arbitrator.

Crippen will also be dedicating time to philanthropic governance commitments. On March 3, 2026, the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies announced Crippen’s appointment as a Director and Program Committee member for both the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation and the Anne Ray Foundation. These Foundations have combined assets that placed them among the top ten foundations in the United States.  Information about the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies is available at www.macphil.org. 

“I am incredibly grateful for the trust clients have placed in me to tell their stories throughout my career,” Crippen said. “Joining Forsgren Fisher provides the ideal platform to expand my investigation and mediation practices and to continue serving clients in litigation and day-to-day employment-law matters.  That I am able to do that with a team that includes such highly respected investigators and trial lawyers – not to mention old friends – is icing on the cake.”

Crippen graduated magna cum laude from Carleton College in 1987 with distinction in English before earning her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1991.

Forsgren Fisher is a premier law firm based in Minneapolis dedicated to helping clients overcome the challenges they face across the United States in litigation, investigations, and intellectual property. To learn more about the firm and its capabilities, visit forsgrenfisher.com.