Sybil Dunlop, Esq.

Sybil Dunlop smiling in a professional portrait, wearing a vibrant blue top with gold hoop earrings against a black background with purple and white border accents.

Sybil Dunlop

Mediator | Arbitrator | Special Master

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Sybil Dunlop@PowerHouseMediation.com

“Alternative dispute resolution allows parties to regain control of the outcome.  As a neutral, my role is to create a space where clarity, respect, and resolution can emerge—even in the most complex disputes.” –  Sybil Dunlop  | PowerHouse Neutral

Contact Information

Sybil.Dunlop@PowerHouseMediation.com

(612) 895-2210

Practice Areas

  • Civil Mediation
  • Civil Arbitration
  • Court Appointed Neutral/Special Master

Education

VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL, J.D., 2008
Honors and Activities: Order of the Coif; Senior Notes Editor, VANDERBILT LAW REVIEW; 2L Mock Trial Champion & Top Litigator Award Recipient; Best Brief Award 2006; Scholastic Achievement Award for top grade in Conflicts of Law, Professional Responsibility, and Legal Writing.

SMITH COLLEGE, B.A., 2001
Honors and Activities: Third Place Novice of the Year in the American Parliamentary Debate Association and Andrew C. Slater Award for Excellence in Debate.
UNIVERSITÉ DE GENÈVE, Geneva, Switzerland, Junior Year Abroad, coursework conducted in French.

Bar Admissions

  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota
  • State Bar of Minnesota

Professional Qualificatons

  • Rule 114 Qualified Neutral, Facilitative Civil, Minnesota  Supreme Court (2025)

Professional Associations

  • The Professional Education Group (Professional Speaker and Presenter)
  • Minnesota Women Lawyers
  • Douglas K. Amdahl Inn of Court (Former Member)

Professional Awards and Honors

  • Listed in Best Lawyers in America (commercial litigation and litigation-intellectual property) (2021 – 2024)
  • “Attorney of the Year,” Minnesota Lawyer (2020, 2022, 2023)
  • Listed in Chambers USA as a “Notable Practioner,” America’s Leading Lawyers for Business The Client’s Guide (2020-2024)
  • Hennepin County Bar Association Excellence Award for Advancing Diversity and Inclusion (2019)
  • Selected to “Rising Stars” list, Minnesota Super Lawyers (2013-2019)
  • Diversity & Inclusion Honoree, Minnesota Lawyer (2018)
  • Recognized as Minnesota State Bar Association North Star Lawyer for pro bono service (2016)
  • Recognized as Up-and-Coming Attorney, Minnesota Lawyer (2015)

Selected Teaching

  • Mediation Inclusivity and Elimination of Bias,  PowerHouse Mediation Certified Mediation Skills Training Course (2020-present).
  • The Supreme Court Term in Preview, Eighth Circuit Bar Association, October 2024.
  • Jury Bias:  Strategic Approaches to Recognizing and Minimizing Bias, Academy of Certified Trial Lawyers of Minnesota (2022)
  • How a Representative Judiciary Ensures Judicial Legitimacy, Eighth Circuit Judicial Conference. October 2021.
  • Persuading People on the Page and Screen: The Psychology, Science and Ethics of Successful Written Communication, Ohio State Bar. August 2021.
  • How Bias Affects Your Case from Filing Through Verdict, Volunteer Lawyers Network. April 2021.
  • Implicit Bias: How It Affects the Legal Profession and How to Fix It, The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. October 2020.
  • Bias and Hate Crimes: Efforts to Prevent and Respond to Injustice, Attorney General CLE. July 28, 2020.
  • Deposition Control: Becoming the Authority and Controlling the Conversation, Pennsylvania Bar Institute. July 2020.
  • Diversity & Inclusion Training, North and South Dakota Federal Defenders. Oct. 2019.
  • Implicit Bias, Office of the Federal Defender. June 2019.
  • Mitigating Bias in Federal Court, The United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (Duluth, MN). May 2019.
  • Implicit Bias Courts Training Webinar, Minnesota Judiciary. Nov. 2017

Community Involvement

  • Infinity Project (whose mission is to increase the gender diversity of the state and federal bench to ensure the quality of justice in the Eighth Circuit). Past president and current chair of applicant support. 2010 – Present.
  • Heilicher Board Member: Serve on the Board of the Twin Cities Jewish Day School.
  • CCLI (a nonprofit small-law-firm incubator whose mission is to increase the number of small law firms in Minnesota providing affordable legal services to clients who are financially ineligible for legal assistance through existing legal nonprofits). Board member. 2016 – 2020.
  • University of St. Thomas. Volunteer coach for the undergraduate mock trial team, including teaching evidence and courtroom practice and judging tournaments. Mock trial coach. 2009 – 2012.

Biography

Sybil Dunlop is a recognized Minnesota trial attorney, litigator, and legal educator with a passion for principled advocacy and dispute resolution. A partner at Greene Espel PLLP, Sybil represents public and private clients in complex litigation, including employment and constitutional matters. She has led major trials for Fortune 100 companies and is widely respected for her strategic insight and courtroom skill.

In addition to her litigation practice, Sybil is a trusted voice in the legal community. She publishes widely, teaches on topics ranging from professional ethics to effective advocacy, and is known for her thoughtful commentary on justice and the legal profession. She is Chambers-rated, a three-time Minnesota Lawyer “Attorney of the Year,” and is recognized by Best Lawyers for her outstanding legal work.

Now available as a neutral with PowerHouse Mediation, Sybil brings her reputation for fairness, clarity, and intelligence to the mediation table. She offers select mediations, arbitrations, and special master appointments—providing parties with a path to resolution grounded in real-world experience and professional excellence.

Current Employment

Greene Espel PLLP, Minneapolis, MN
Partner, 2015 – Present
Member, 2010 – 2015

Manage and lead cases in both federal and state court systems including client representations relating to contract disputes, constitutional rights and election law, antitrust, class-action defense, trade secret, copyright and trademark, shareholder disputes, intellectual property, products liability, and consumer fraud. Handle all aspects of litigation including motion practice, oral argument, discovery, depositions, work with experts, settlement conferences, and trial and appeal. Representative clients include 3M Company, Target, Cargill, and Resideo.

Founded and developed Greene Espel’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Practice and serve as national thought leader on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion topics. Travel around the nation providing award- winning Diversity & Inclusion programming to corporate, public sector, and government entities.

Representative Experiences:

Led trial teams including:

  • First chairing a trial for Taylor Corporation in litigation involving a build-to-suit facility, securing a trial victory;
  • First chairing a trial for a Fortune 100 company in Richmond, Virginia, securing a dismissal of all claims;
  • First chairing an employment-dispute arbitration on behalf of a Minnesota company and securing dismissal of all claims;
  • Serving as co-lead counsel on a trial team that secured a jury verdict in a patent- infringement lawsuit inthe District of Minnesota; and
  • First chairing an arbitration involving a post-purchase dispute for a Fortune 100 company in Washington, DC, and obtaining a decision 94.3% in client’s favor.

Led litigations for clients including:

  • Reduced client exposure by 99.6% from $50M to $200K and settled contractual performance dispute;
  • Served as lead Minnesota counsel in three voting rights cases during the 2020 election cycle, obtaining multiple preliminary injunctions to protect ballot access; and
  • Served as lead counsel for 3M’s COVID fraud work, obtaining multiple TROs and ex parte seizures of counterfeit N95 masks in federal courts around the country.

Other Professional Experiences

Law Clerk, Minneapolis, MN
Hon. James M. Rosenbaum, U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, 2008-2010.

Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, L.L.P., Minneapolis, MN
Summer Associate: Summer 2008.

Williams & Connolly, Washington, DC
Summer Associate: Summer 2007.

American Civil Liberties Union, Baltimore, MD
Summer Law Clerk: Summer 2006.

EMILY’s List, Washington, DC
Political Research Deputy: Coordinated independent expenditure efforts with pollsters, media consultants, and canvassers. Conducted research on political candidates to create television ads and direct mail programs. Feb. 2005 – Aug. 2005.

Political Research Associate: Produced research documents tracking legislative and voting histories of political candidates and their opponents. Fact-checked all EMILY’s List publications, advertisements, and speeches. Feb. 2003 – Jan. 2005.

Finance Assistant: Processed and deposited all in-house contributions, prepared daily deposit logs, vetted all candidate and committee contribution requests, oversaw outside vendor’s check processing. Sep. 2001 – Feb. 2003.

Professional Publications

  • Sybil Dunlop & Jenny Gassman-Pines, Why the Legal Profession is the Nation’s Least Diverse (and How to Fix It), 47 WM. MITCHELL L. REV. 129, 129 (2020).
  • Sybil Dunlop & Elizabeth Cowan Wright, Plausible Deniability: How the Supreme Court Created a Heightened Pleading Standard Without Admitting They Did So, 33 HAMLINE L. REV. 205 (2010).
  • Sybil L. Dunlop & Steven D. Maloney, Justice is Hard, Let’s Go Shopping! Trading Justice for Efficiency under the new Aggregate Settlement Regime, 83 ST. JOHN’S L. REV. 521(2009).
  • Sybil L. Dunlop, Are an Empty Head and a Pure Heart Enough? Mens Rea Standards for Judge-Imposed Rule 11 Sanctions and Their Effects on Attorney Action, 61 VAND. L. REV. 615, 616 (2008)