During a recent trip to the southern border, Annamarie Daley '84 worked with detained migrants seeking asylum in the United States. It’s a trip she makes multiple times a year to Laredo, Texas, as an active pro bono practitioner for the global law firm Jones Day.
“A lot of people are leaving situations where they or their family members are being threatened with death or have already been killed, and if they stay, others will be killed, or others will be taken from them,” Daley says. “They have no hope for the future, and so they’re willing to risk a dangerous journey to try to go someplace else.”
Daley’s been traveling between Minnesota and Laredo for nearly a decade. Over the years, the needs of detainees have changed, and it’s up to Daley and others to identify if and how they can help.
“There are three main detention centers in Laredo,” she explains. “We go into those detention centers to meet with detainees. And until the last several months, the detainees were people who had recently crossed the southern border. Now, many of the people in these detention centers are people whom ICE has picked up, and many have been picked up in locations far from Laredo.”
Another area Daley focuses on is human trafficking and the massive effort that is the Compendium Project: A Source for Global Anti- Human Trafficking Laws. The project is a worldwide effort to gather all the laws of human trafficking into one resource.
“I’m grateful to have this opportunity to continue to work in this space with my colleagues at Jones Day,” she says. “They are incredibly smart and committed people passionate about the work they do.”
Building Both Practices
A highly experienced and decorated attorney, Daley’s civic engagement runs deep, with roots that go back to her childhood in Lewiston, Minn. As a small-town farm kid, she watched her parents’ commitment to their community. Her mother was a leader in their church, and her father, an Army veteran, was active with local veteran organizations. They eventually became more politically active, she says, with her mother serving as head of the Minnesota Rural Development Agency in the ’90s.
At the University of Minnesota, Daley earned degrees in political science and agricultural business administration, then attended law school, intending to practice international trade law. After studying in England, she decided to stay in Minnesota and build a litigation career. From the start, pro bono work was a priority for Daley, beginning with distressed family farmers during the 1980s financial crisis.
But Daley hasn’t just excelled at pro bono work. Over three decades, she built a formidable reputation in complex commercial litigation, representing clients in antitrust lawsuits, intellectual property disputes, and regulatory matters before agencies such as the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the FDA, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Her work earned her Attorney of the Year honors from Minnesota Lawyer for her lead role in patent litigation involving electronic fuel-injection technology for snowmobile engines.
In 2016, she became one of the founding partners of Jones Day’s Minneapolis office, bringing her expertise to one of the world’s largest law firms.
Yet even as her commercial practice flourished, Daley maintained her commitment to those most vulnerable, including as a volunteer guardian ad litem advocating for children in the court system. Her work has earned significant recognition. In 2020, she received the Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association’s Manuel Guerrero Courage in Leadership Award and in 2023, the Minnesota State Bar Association Advocate Award.
“What I’ve been able to do is continue to do litigation work but also focus energy on pro bono work and facilitate that work for others,” she says.
Embracing Opportunities
Looking back on her career, Daley is proud of what she’s accomplished. The only thing she regrets is not saying yes to more requests. “I’m a firm believer in leaning in,” she says. “There were a few times in my life when I said no, and I always regretted it.”
Daley’s commitments also extend to teaching. She taught trial practice at the Law School for four years and now instructs for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, including teaching prosecutors, judges, and lawyers in Nigeria.
“You can help people individually, but you can also help them structurally and system-wide,” says Daley, who is the incoming chair of the Board of Advisors at the Law School. “The fact that you’re a lawyer is critical to being able to help with the system issues.”
Beyond helping people, Daley notes that pro bono work expands your network and develops your expertise. Her advice is to pick an area you’re passionate about and get involved in your community.
“You have to start doing public service in whatever form right away,” says Daley, who has been president of numerous organizations, including the Children’s Law Center of Minnesota, the University of Minnesota’s 4-H Foundation, and the Minnesota State Bar Association Civil Litigation Governing Council. “If you make it part of your practice from the beginning, it’s easier to carry it forward and to think about it as an essential part of your career. I’ve always believed it was essential to give back.”
From the farmland of southeastern Minnesota to the detention centers of Laredo, Daley has remained committed to the values she learned early— serve your community, say yes to opportunities to help, and use your skills to help those who need it most.