#LegalTechLives with Joe Otterstetter, Managing Counsel & Associate General Counsel, 3M Legal Affairs
When you’re on the legal team of a creative, innovative company like 3M, there are no typical days. Joe Otterstetter talks about his decades at the iconic company — and his love of tennis.

Born in Milwaukee but raised in the Twin Cities, Joe Otterstetter is a 1985 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School. He began his legal career as an associate in Faegre & Benson’s business litigation practice group. In 1989, he joined 3M’s Office of General Counsel and has served as a legal advisor to more than 30 3M businesses. From 1997–2000, he lived and worked for 3M in Europe where he supported 3M’s chemical, industrial, and electronics businesses, as well as its operations in the Middle East and North Africa. In February of 2013, 3M General Counsel Ivan Fong appointed Joe to the newly created role of managing counsel. In this role, Joe leads 3M’s Legal Operations team and works with Ivan and his leadership team to manage 3M’s 500-person global legal department. For more than 25 years, Joe has served pro bono clients in the Twin Cities in a wide range of legal matters. He is also a champion of innovation in legal service delivery and serves on the ACC Value Challenge Steering Committee.
Ava Chisling: Since you have spent a lifetime in the Twin Cities, tell me one sports story that has impacted your life?
Joe Otterstetter: It’s not an overstatement to say that tennis changed my life. My high school tennis coach, Randy Ronning, was not only an inspirational leader and role model, he encouraged me to attend college — something nobody in my family had done. I followed his path to the University of Minnesota’s Morris campus. I was a better student than tennis player, but I learned some things about winning and losing by competing at that level. I still play tennis and am forever grateful to Mr. Ronning.
AC: Tell me about a typical day for you at 3M.
JO: One of the reasons I love my job at 3M is that there aren’t many “typical” days. Being available to my colleagues is an important part of my role, and my days are often filled with meetings. I also try to block time for creative work. Email of course is a blessing and a challenge, and I try not to let it consume my time.
My role as managing counsel is horizontal: I work across our department to serve both 3M and my 500 colleagues, nearly 300 of whom are in St. Paul. I lead our 40-person Legal Operations team. We deploy process and technology to drive excellence and efficiency across our legal team. Our team is highly collaborative, and we work hard to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard.
AC: It was mentioned in a recent Bloomberg article that 3M cut the “300 or so firms it worked with in the U.S. to about 35 to 36 firms.” Tell me why cutting back on outside counsel is important to your team and to 3M?
JO: I don’t know what the “right” number of outside counsel is, but I do believe that 300 is too many for our business. We were way too fragmented and, therefore, less relevant to our outside counsel. When we began our convergence process, we set as a first principle to focus not so much on absolute numbers but on relevance. We wanted fewer, high-trust relationships. We, of course, needed to significantly reduce our outside spending and introduce competition into our engagements, but we also wanted to find firms that share our values — including our commitment to pro bono service and diversity and inclusion.
AC: What do you think 3M’s most impressive innovation has been to date?
JO: This is an impossible question for a company like 3M, because what we do every day is apply science to improve people’s lives. That’s a powerful mission, and one that makes it easier to get out of bed on a cold January morning in Minnesota. More than what we do, though, is how we do it. 3M’s culture is one that encourages sensible, ethical risk-taking — to experiment, learn, and improve. We try to apply that same innovative ethos to our law department, and as we work to improve our efficiency and excellence, we’re also careful to preserve our culture.
AC: When you are counsel for an iconic company known for innovation, is there a certain pressure to always be innovative in your work?
JO: Interesting question. I would not say “pressure,” but the bar is high at 3M, and our General Counsel, Ivan Fong, has encouraged all of us to operate our law department with the efficiency and excellence of a 3M business.
AC: When a company is involved in so many aspects of our lives, there must be some challenges — exciting and daunting — for legal counsel. Can you tell me about one particular work challenge that you love — and perhaps one coming your way?
JO: For all of us — and I don’t think this is unique to 3M — the pace of change can be staggering. Our CEO Inge Thulin encourages us to embrace change, and we try to get out ahead, as Inge puts it, to change “while we can, rather than when we must.” That’s exciting because it encourages us to create and experiment with doing things better. Each year, we select one or two priority projects — our “vital few” — and this year we’re undertaking a blank slate look at how we can be an even better partner to our 3M team in delivering world class legal service.
We’re also leading for our company the implementation of a global contract repository and workflow tool. That’s both exhilarating and, at times, overwhelming. If we do this well, we’ll change how our company creates and manages this important business information.
AC: Of course, at ROSS Intelligence, we are big on AI and technology, especially in law. How do you feel about AI in the legal profession?
JO: There’s no question that cognitive computing and data analytics will change how we work, and if done right it, will help us be more efficient and to make better decisions. Nobody supposes that AI will replace the human element of delivering legal services — in fact, I’d argue that EQ is more important than ever. What AI can help us do, though, is be smarter and more efficient. We’ve recently invested in a small but excellent data analytics team. They’re already helping us to better use our own data in making decisions that affect our matters and our department. I hope this is not too personal — kudos to ROSS for pioneering cognitive computing to solve useful problems.
“I don’t know what the ‘right’ number of outside counsel is, but I do believe that 300 is too many for our business… We also wanted to find firms that share our values — including our commitment to pro bono service and diversity and inclusion.”

AC: If I walked into your office right now, would I find Post-Its on the wall?
JO: Ha! No, not on the wall — I’m a bit of a neatnik, but all over my desk, yes. Lisa Damon at Seyfarth taught us that there is no better tool for process mapping. Lawyers get wigged-out when you ask them to do a process map, but moving Post-It notes around on a wall they can handle. It’s an elegantly simple invention that’s changed how the world communicates.
AC: You have worked in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. What did you learn from your work abroad that remains with you today?
JO: Great question. This may sound a bit corny, but I learned that people around the world want pretty much the same thing: a safe, healthy, sustainable place to live, to contribute, and to be with those they love. 3M is an international pioneer and has businesses in places like Pakistan and Egypt and Lebanon. And because we are there, we’re helping to make the lives of our employees’ and customers’ families better than they otherwise would be. I’m proud to work at a company where doing well and doing good are both important.

AC: Tell me about the Minnesota Assistance Council for Veterans. Why does this particular cause mean so much to you?
JO: Our connection to MACV began with Colleen Kelly, our first Equal Justice Works fellow, in 2014. Colleen was a two-tour Iraq War vet, and we partnered with Equal Justice Works, and one of our preferred counsel, to sponsor her work at MACV. Colleen inspired us to connect with Minnesota’s Veterans, and we now have a number of legal professionals who participate in monthly walk-in clinics at the VA Hospital in Minneapolis and an annual “stand down” event.
My colleague Maureen Harms leads our pro bono committee, and under her leadership — and, importantly, the enthusiastic support of Ivan Fong — we dedicate over 2000 hours a year to serving our communities in a variety of areas from human rights to medical-legal partnerships to assisting our veterans.
AC: Here’s a question I ask of everyone I interview for this blog: What is one invention not yet in existence that you would want right now?
JO: A cure for cancer. In the past year, we have lost two colleagues, Ann Marie Hanrahan and Melissa Anderson, both incredibly talented and wonderful people. Several more of our colleagues have had to deal with various forms of cancer.
AC: I really appreciate you taking the time to e-chat with us, Joe. And I hope the invention you wish for comes true soon enough.
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