About Jody DeSmidt

Jody Ollyver DeSmidt is a partner in the Minneapolis law firm of DeSmidt Rabuse PLLC. She was admitted to the Minnesota State Bar and the U.S. District Court – District of Minnesota Bar in 1982 and the U.S. Supreme Court Bar in 1994. Jody earned her BA degree from the University of Minnesota in 1979 and her JD degree from William Mitchell College of Law in 1982, where she was a law review editor.

Jody is a member of the Minnesota State and the Hennepin County and Washington County Bar Associations. Jody devotes her practice primarily to family law, adoption, juvenile law, assisted reproductive technology law (ARTs) and appeals in those areas.

Jody has been a fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys since 1992 and the American Academy of Assisted Reproductive Technology Attorneys since 2009. She has been repeatedly designated as a Super Lawyer by Law & Politics.

Bar Admissions
Minnesota, 1982
U.S. District Court of Minnesota, 1982
U.S. Supreme Court, 1994

Education
William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, Juris Doctorate, June 13, 1982
Law Review: Staff Member, 1980-1981, Editor, 1981-1982, William Mitchell Law
Review, 1980-1982
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bachelor of Arts, June 1979
Honors: Phi Alpha Theta Major: Political Science

Published Works
The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children: Traps for the Unwary (Co-Author with Kimberly Weinacht), Mile Seminar 2013
Foster Parent Adoption, Family Law Forum, Summer 1996