Michael Sabers

A fierce competitor, Michael Sabers enjoys a fast-paced litigation practice that includes multiple types of civil litigation. This litigation includes but is not limited to complex divorce, commercial, shareholder dispute, and general business litigation. Michael also provides general business advice to various businesses and business owners as to many aspects of business and risk management.

Michael was born and raised in South Dakota and is proud of that fact. He and his wife Cathy, who is a corporate attorney at Black Hills Energy in Rapid City, are the proud parents of two remarkable daughters although that may be a conclusion reached with some inherent bias. Following in the family footsteps of his father, a trial lawyer in Sioux Falls before being appointed a South Dakota Supreme Court
Justice, Michael became a trial lawyer. His sister Susan was also a practicing trial lawyer in Sioux Falls before her appointment by the Governor to the South Dakota Circuit Court as a Judge in 2012.

Taught at an early age that there is no substitute for hard work and the will to win, Michael applied those principles throughout his education and now applies them to the daily practice of law. Such work ethic allowed him to excel in athletics and academics, obtaining state and college champion hurdle titles while also graduating Magna Cum Laude from Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. Michael subsequently attended the University of South Dakota Law School, obtaining dean’s list and high-grade honors. While at USD he was published in the South Dakota Law Review and became the Managing Editor
in his third year. Upon graduation in May of 2000, Michael had the honor of clerking for the Honorable Judge Steven Zinter in Pierre, South Dakota, before moving westward with his wife to Rapid City, South Dakota, to begin private practice in 2001.

Believing that a balance in life is important and provides perspective, Michael enjoys spending extensive time with his family. They enjoy long summer days at the family lake cabin and on the surf boat. They also travel extensively for daughters’ gymnastics and other extracurricular events, and Michael is his
daughters’ biggest fan (next to their mother). When free time allows Michael can be found engaging in the many activities the beautiful Black Hills has to offer to include riding trail and adventure motorcycles, a gravel grinder (bicycle), archery, long range shooting, trail running, snow skiing, and snowshoeing depending on the season.

In the last twenty-two years of practice, Michael has been the lead counsel on many types of divorce and other civil litigation cases. Although believing all of his client’s cases are important and deserving of equal attention, some examples of Michael’s reported cases, settlements, or recent issues are referenced below.
Michael has had the opportunity and continues to represent countless professionals, ranchers, farmers, business owners, and other persons in complex and oftentimes difficult divorce litigation. This divorce litigation has involved substantial assets, valuation issues, issues pertaining to alimony, child support,
separate or inherited property, division of marital property, and premarital agreements. The hardearned experience obtained over two plus decades of litigation serves his existing clients well as Michael has now seen most, albeit not all, issues that may arise in such litigation.

Michael has also tried many court and jury trials throughout the State of South Dakota. These trials include, but are not limited to divorce, contract dispute, and trials involving shareholder dispute and valuation claims. This broad range of litigation experience, whether initiating cases on behalf of his client, or defending his client in cases brought by another party, has given Michael the hard-earned training necessary to be a steady hand on the rudder when litigation ultimately becomes contentious, difficult, and uncertain. Michael has also been asked by other attorneys to privately, and by agreement, mediate difficult or uncertain divorce type litigation cases and has done so with success.

Michael is a a member of various professional organizations and holds the necessary licenses to practice in both State and Federal court in South Dakota. Michael is a proud thirteen-year Sustaining Member of the South Dakota Trial Lawyer’s Association and also is a member of the Pennington County Bar Association. Throughout his legal career, Michael has presented to local groups on a variety of legal topics including but not limited to valuation, expert testimony, and trial issues.