Dakota Dunes Attorney Reminisces About 40+ Years in Law and New Dunes Location

At the start of his career, carbon paper and 7 cent air mail were normal office supplies. Now, nearly 45 years later, Stewart Huff of Crary Huff Attorneys at Law sits in a tidy Dakota Dunes office on Stevens Port Drive, with the majority of his documents neatly filed away in his computer.

"I can remember when the computer first came into the business environment for law firms," Huff explained. " I looked at our office manager and I said, "Don't bother to put one on my desk. I'll be dead before this thing ever catches on.""

That was about 15 years ago. And now, the computer is his silent partner.

"It has become a very integral part. It's grown to the point where we no longer do as much paper sharing. It's all electronic," Huff explains of the industry today.

"I have done selling and or purchasing of businesses and have never met the accountant or the lawyer, or the buyer, or the seller, as the case may be."

Huff feels that over the last seven years the computer has truly come a secure way to conduct business and all commerce really is dependant on the internet as a vehicle to achieve results.

"We use virtual document rooms where we set up a secure website. We'll put our seller documents up there and they can go in and look at them. We no longer ship paper back and forth, nor do they have to print email," Huff explains of the technological changes in the industry.

Huff had aspirations of being a lawyer since junior high school. At the time, his father Wallace practiced law and little did he know, father and son would eventually work together.

After two years at Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, Missouri, Huff pursued his BA and JD at The University of Iowa. The 1965 University of Iowa graduate went on to complete two years of active military service before serving two years at the Army Reserves in Sioux City and joining his father at the law firm.

Today, the firm, Crary, Huff, Inkster, Sheehan, Riggenberg, Hartnett & Storm , P.C. Attorneys at Law, is a corporation with ten equal co-owners that boasts a 109 year legacy.

"When I started, I was the fifth person, and we're now fifteen, so it's growing," Huff explains of the business. Licensed in the three Siouxland states, Huff has offices in Sioux City, Dakota Dunes and South Sioux City to best serve his clients.

But the current buzz around town is the new larger office space that is currently under construction in Dakota Dunes.

"We are in the process of moving to a building that is being built across the road on Sioux Point Road. And, we're expanding that office site intending to add one or more attorneys in the short term to our Dunes office," Huff explained.

Hoping for a July or August 2008 occupancy, Crary Huff hopes to have up to four attorneys at the new Dunes location. They are currently in the process of interviewing at the law schools in the Midwest, with plans of hiring some local graduates to add to their team.

Although they are growing and expanding, the firm is no stranger to this part of South Dakota.

"We have been very fortunate as a law firm to have worked with Mid-American Energy from much of the inception (of the Dunes) and have been involved with a lot of the intergovernmental structure, the recreational side of the country club, as well as the planned development side," Huff explains of the firms involvement with the community. "So, we have a long history over here, being involved in the Dunes itself."

Huff's involvement with the firm has led him to practice varying areas of law. However, over time he has fine tuned his focus.

"Over the last almost 45 years, I've done it all. But, currently the focus is in business, business planning, business structuring, mergers and acquisitions, and then I do some real estate work and some senior estate planning," Huff explained.

But, what is his favorite area of law to practice? Business. He finds learning about new businesses and how they operate, why they operate, and their inter-relationship in the overall business structure to be personally rewarding.

"I enjoy working with new starts because it's a challenge to see young people, or people with a new business venture or opportunity, get launched."

After nearly 45 years in the industry, Huff has seen many businesses bud, grow and mature.

"When you've been in practice as long as I have, and done a wealth of business work historically, I am seeing my clients who started young and just getting started with a new idea , grow, grow, grow and ultimately, frequently, sell; whether its to their employees, to their family, or to an outside third party."

When he isn't at the office, Huff enjoys spending time with his wife, Maureen, his three grown sons and six grandchildren. His son Allen is a doctor in Ft. Collins, Colorado. Steven is an attorney in Yankton and Peter is an investment banker in Austin, Texas.

During the summer, Huff may be out of the office to spend some time on the lakes in Yankton.

"I am aquatic by nature. I like things on the water and so I spend a great deal of time in Yankton, which is probably why my middle son is there. I have a home on the lake up there."

Huff enjoys sailing, fishing and has even tried his hand at ice fishing while vacationing in Minnesota.

So, how did this South Dakota man enjoy spending time on the ice in Minnesota?

"It's cold. The way it's done up there is entirely different than sitting on a bucket upside down on the ice. They build these big 12x 22 foot homes that they put out on 30 inches of ice and you've got 6 or 7 holes inside that you drop lines through. And you sit with the propane heater keeping you warm and the generator keeping your television going until the bell rings," Huff explained.

Bell? Yes, you guessed it. Then, it's time to check your line for the catch of the day. Unfortunately, the only long fish tales Huff can tell about his evening ice fishing with friends, are about the ones that got away.