Carrie Backman officially joined the firm as an associate attorney in the fall of 2022, but she first started her legal career here as well, working as a legal assistant during her first year of law school.

Carrie is a native to the area, as she grew up on a farm north of Beardsley where her family raised corn, soybeans, and beef cattle. Growing up around agriculture and in a rural community has motivated Carrie to serve farmers and those who live in small towns in matters ranging from bankruptcy and business to real estate and agricultural law.

As for her education, Carrie graduated as class valedictorian from Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley High School in 2015. She then went on to graduate with the highest distinction of summa cum laude from North Dakota State University in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in English. During college, Carrie spent her summers in downtown Minneapolis, interning for Pohlad Companies, the holding company for the Pohlad family who own the Minnesota Twins. This experience was invaluable to Carrie both in shaping her knowledge of corporate structure, but also in confirming her determination to live and work in a rural community.

Carrie completed her legal education at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, again graduating summa cum laude and ranked #1 in her graduating class of 243 students. During law school, Carrie served as an associate and then managing editor on the Mitchell Hamline Law Review, and she mentored first year students through the school’s legal writing program. She also spent a summer clerking for Heidepriem, Purtell, Siegel, and Hinrichs in Sioux Falls, SD, where she gained valuable experience in civil rights cases as well as personal injury cases, some of which had million-dollar outcomes.

Carrie is married to James Backman, who grew up on a farm near Herman. His work on the family farm continues to keep Carrie filled in on the latest developments and concerns in the ag world. Carrie and James have one child, born in the same year after Carrie graduated law school, studied for the bar exam, and started as an attorney here at the firm.

In her free time, Carrie enjoys spending time with her family, cooking new recipes, baking anything that involves chocolate, and reading fantasy fiction novels.

Carrie has been admitted to practice in Minnesota and South Dakota.