A 1971 graduate of Cornell University and 1978 graduate cum laude of William Mitchell College of Law, Joan joined the Minneapolis firm of Rider, Bennett, Egan & Arundel, which now numbers 125 attorneys, in 1978, following a trial court clerkship. She is admitted to the Minnesota State and Federal District Court Bars. 

Joan Morrow’s primary areas of litigation practice and expertise have been employment law, litigation and insurance coverage issues arising from employment claims.  She has been a frequent and popular lecturer over the years to lawyers, clients and industry associations on issues related to sexual harassment, including the investigation of complaints and the challenges of litigating those claims, on the handling of insurance coverage disputes, as well as on the effective use of mediation in resolving employment and other disputes.

Joan Morrow’s initial act of professional peacemaking came when she was asked in 1985 to chair the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Task Force on Tort Reform, a committee composed of diametrically opposed plaintiffs' and defense counsel.  In recognition for her successful efforts at forging consensus on difficult issues, Joan was awarded the State Bar Association’s President’s Award for Professional Excellence. In 1988, in connection with the liability insurance "crisis" and tort reform movement, Joan Morrow was appointed Chairman by the Minnesota Legislature of its Injury Compensation Study Commission, a group charged with reviewing significant laws impacting tort liability and damages. Named a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation in 1991 and now a Life Fellow, Joan also received her law school’s Distinguished Alumna Award in 1993.

Based on years of observation that the litigation system not only fails to provide litigants on either side with the “win” they seek but is a costly and inefficient method for achieving unsatisfactory results, Joan began mediating in 1990 as a principled response to litigants’ and the bar’s need for mediation services and as an adjunct to her active employment law practice. In early 1994, Joan left her senior litigation partner position at the Rider, Bennett firm, where she had practiced for 16 years, to start her own firm, JOAN S. MORROW, P. A., a firm dedicated to dispute resolution. She has mediated more than 1000 employment and commercial cases, settling over 95% of them at the mediation session.

In 1995, Joan was appointed by the Minnesota Supreme Court to serve on its Alternative Dispute Resolution Review Board. She is a member of the Center for Public Resources Employment Disputes Panel. In 2004, Joan became a Fellow of the International Academy of Mediators.

She has completed over 72 hours of mediation training through the Center for Dispute Resolution in Boulder, Colorado, The Mediation Center in Minneapolis and U.S. Arbitration and Mediation. Joan S. Morrow, P.A. has offices in Williamsburg, Virginia and offers mediation services in Virginia, the mid-Atlantic states and Washington, D.C..