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Kale R. Van Bruggen

I was lucky enough to be raised on my family’s corn, soybean, and wheat farm in rural southeast North Dakota. You might find it “emusing” that we even raised emus for several years under the business name “Dutch Emu Acres” (“Wooden shoe like to see our emus?”). Growing up farming with family taught me patience, responsibility, respect for natural resources, a solid work ethic, and the value of perseverance. My parents still farm south of Litchville and I enjoy the opportunity to help cultivate and harvest when I am home.

Farm advocacy (we called it “agvocacy”) was an important part of my upbringing and shaped my choice to attend Drake University Law School, where I completed the Food and Agricultural Law Certificate program and graduated with highest honors. I bring my passion for farm “agvocacy” into my work representing farmers, landowners, and rural, local governments on litigation, regulatory and transactional matters primarily focused on water resources.

Areas of Practice:

Experience

Kale Van Bruggen is a shareholder in the firm. He concentrates his practice in:

  • Water Law
  • Agriculture
  • Environment and Natural Resources

Kale primarily represents clients on regulatory and litigation matters, including NRCS certified wetland determinations; Clean Water Act compliance; wetland banking and mitigation; compliance with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service waterfowl production area easements; and Minnesota’s Wetland Conservation Act and public waters, public waters wetlands, and buffer laws compliance. Kale also represents public drainage authorities in North Dakota (water resource districts) and Minnesota (counties and watershed districts) on matters pertaining to establishment, construction, and management of water drainage systems and water quality enhancement projects. In the courtroom, Kale has represented farmers and landowners on many cases pertaining to water and drainage law and appeals of local government orders.

Kale graduated from North Dakota State University with a degree in Business Administration. He received his law degree from Drake University Law School, Order of the Coif. While attending law school, Kale served as the note editor of the Drake Law Review and clerked for Justice Brent Appel of the Iowa Supreme Court. Kale joined Rinke Noonan in 2012.

Bar Admissions:

  • North Dakota
  • Minnesota
  • Iowa
  • U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota

Community

Kale is a founding member and Vice President of the James Arthur Albert Foundation, a nonprofit organization that awards scholarships for Belize students to cover the costs of attending high school. The Foundation also builds classrooms in the Toledo District of Belize.

Kale has served as a Director on the Board of Farm Commons, a nonprofit organization that provides legal resources and training to small, family‐operated, farm‐to‐consumer businesses. He is currently an active member of the American Agricultural Law Association, the Stearns Benton Bar Association, and serves as Vice President on the MSBA Agricultural and Rural Law Section Council.

Paralegals

Julie Fincher
jfincher@rinkenoonan.com
320-251-6700
Practice Areas:
Agricultural Law
Environmental Law
Water Law
Drainage
Kathleen Bundy
kbundy@rinkenoonan.com
320-251-6700
Practice Areas:
Agricultural Law
Environmental Law
Drainage
Water Law

Resources

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