J. Scott Braden

Celebrating the Retirement of Scott Braden

After 45 years of dedicated service to his clients and community, Scott Braden is retiring this year. Admitted to practice in 1981, Scott built a distinguished career in family law, guiding clients through some of the most difficult moments of their lives with skill, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to resolution—working alongside mediators, parenting time expeditors, parenting time evaluators, and custody evaluators to reach outcomes that served families well.

Service to the Faribault community and the local bar has been a cornerstone of Scott’s career. He is a past President of both the Fifth District Bar Association and the Rice County Bar Association, and a longtime member of the Minnesota State Bar Association. For more than a decade, he served on the Faribault City Planning Commission, including as its Chair, and he has given generously of his time to Divine Mercy Catholic Church’s Finance Committee.

Scott’s devotion to access to justice set him apart. As a volunteer attorney, past President, and Board member of Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, he spent decades ensuring that quality legal representation was not reserved for those who could easily afford it. That work earned him the Minnesota Legal Services Coalition Pro Bono Publico Award in 2001 and the SMRLS President’s Pro Bono Service Award in 2016.

Ethical practice was always at the center of Scott’s work. He served six years reviewing ethics complaints against area attorneys as a member of the Fifth District Bar Association Ethics Committee—which he later chaired—and as Vice Chair of the Minnesota Supreme Court ADR Ethics Board.

His peers recognized his excellence year after year: Scott was named a Minnesota Super Lawyer in family law for 18 consecutive years and was honored as a Top 40 Family Law Super Lawyer.

Scott earned his J.D. from Hamline University School of Law in 1981 and his B.A. in Government from St. John’s University in 1978.

We are deeply grateful for Scott’s many years of service and the countless clients, colleagues, and community members whose lives he touched. Please join us in wishing him a happy and well-deserved retirement.