South Dakota attorney believes in benefits of proactive approach
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South Dakota attorney believes in benefits of proactive approach
By Brian Cox
Much of Ty Daly’s childhood was spent on the sun-dappled baseball fields of Rapid City, S.D., where he is a native son and an associate at Lynn, Jackson, Shultz & Lebrun, P.C.
“The only times I’ve left Rapid City were for school,” says Daly. “I loved growing up here. I felt like it was just the perfect place to grow up. I love the community and it’s real important for me to be a part of this community.”
The Daly clan has strong roots in Rapid City, which lies east of the Black Hills and acts as a gateway to Mt. Rushmore, the colossal sculpture featuring the faces of four U.S. presidents. The connections the family has forged over the years are wide and varied. His father was a firefighter, and his mother was an insurance agency administrator. When Daly joined Lynn Jackson in 2022 fresh out of law school, an older attorney who was soon to retire asked if he was related to Don and Pat Daly. Indeed, he was. It turned out that the attorney had created the estate plan for Daly’s grandparents.
Growing up, Daly thought briefly of becoming a firefighter like his father, but it was baseball that filled his days and drove his dreams. He played American Legion baseball for Post 22 and pitched for his high school varsity team.
“Baseball was kind of everything,” he recalls. “I think it was kind of my whole identity for a long time.”
Attorney Ty Daly and his fiancée, Brittney, got engaged last year. Daly played baseball growing up and remains an avid supporter of Post 22 Baseball.
With aspirations of playing professional ball, Daly chose to attend the University of Jamestown in North Dakota after high school. Soreness in his arm, however, led to him being cut from the team. He remembers receiving the hard news from the coach.
“It was a real shot to the ego, but it was a good lesson in how to deal with failure,” says Daly. “It taught me that there is a tomorrow, there are other things, and it allowed me to find other interests.”
For a while, though, Daly wasn’t sure what those other interests might be. He transferred to South Dakota State University where first he studied kinesiology and then psychology as he sought to identify a career path that didn’t involve baseball.
One day, a professor who was teaching Daly’s government course stopped him after class to encourage him to consider pairing a government major with his psychology major – it would look good on a resume for law school, he said.
The suggestion planted a seed in Daly’s head. He’d always had an interest in history. He began to think of law school as an avenue for becoming involved in policy work at the state level. Although his interest in a political career eventually waned after an internship working with state senators where he was able to witness politics in practice, the thought of going to law school never did.
“I’m thankful that professor suggested law school because it gave the next five or six years of my life direction,” says Daly. “It gave me something to aim for and to work for. I’m probably in the position I’m in because of that small suggestion.”
Deciding he should experience more of life outside of South Dakota, Daly elected to attend law school at the University of Nebraska, where he knew no one and would be challenged to form a new network of friends and associates.
“I learned I could find my way in a place where I didn’t have an established social group,” says Daly. “I could make a social group. I could make connections with people and find common interests. I think I proved to myself that I wasn’t just a product of those who were around me.”
Early on in law school, Daly found his interests leaning toward contracts and transactions. He roomed with two friends who were accountants and their business backgrounds exposed Daly to aspects of business law.
“I like trying to solve problems,” he says. “But I really like helping people before they get problems.”
When Daly graduated from law school, he returned to Rapid City as he had always planned and interviewed at Lynn Jackson. He immediately felt the firm was a fit for his personality and his practice interests.
Founded in Rapid City in 1946, the firm also has offices in Sioux Falls and Belle Fourche, a city that bills itself as the “Geographic Center of the U.S.” Its team of business and transactional lawyers assists clients with their banking, corporate, and business needs, and its estate planning and trust attorneys are considered some of the most trusted and experienced lawyers in the field.
Daly says he was drawn to the firm in part by the calm disposition of managing partner Jeff Collins, which seems to epitomize the firm culture.
“I’ve never seen anyone high strung here,” says Daly. “In a profession as stressful as the law can be, the people that I get to work with and learn from are so calm and level-headed and calculated. I’ve never seen anyone treat someone unkindly or unreasonably. I love getting to learn from the individuals I work with.”
He currently serves on the board of the Pennington County Bar Association and attended his first Primerus event when he went to the 2024 Young Lawyers Conference in New Orleans, La.
Daly and his fiancée, Brittney, got engaged last July. The couple met five years ago at a restaurant where she was waitressing. He left his phone number on a napkin and – against all odds – she called him. She is a third-grade teacher, and they enjoy hiking trails in the Black Hills with their two collies, Stetson and Hoss.
“I love putting everything down and being able to walk,” says Daly. “It kind of clears my mind.”
Though sometimes perceived to be an introvert who tends to be reserved and content to let other people do the talking, Daly dabbled in stand-up comedy in college. He says he got his sense of humor from his dad.
Ty and Brittney have two beautiful collies, Hoss (below) and Stetson (above).
Ty and Brittney enjoy opportunities to explore hiking trails in the Black Hills.
“It was a creative outlet to take the mundane experiences of a lot of life and try to put my own twist on it,” he says.
He remains an avid fan of his old Post 22 baseball team and continues to maintain a deep connection with Legion baseball. Influenced by his father’s roots in Michigan, he also is a fan of the Detroit Tigers and the University of Michigan football team, which much to his joy won the national title last season.
Daly’s practice at Lynn Jackson involves business organization and transactions and estate planning. He chose transactional work because he can work with clients to proactively address potential problems and “avoid headaches down the road.” He particularly enjoys helping small business owners plan for the next generation by combining business and estate planning techniques.
“I think one of the reasons I went into law is because I don’t like selling, but I’ve never had a problem selling something I believe in,” he says. “I like that I can be authentic.”
As he looks to grow his practice, he expects to draw on a lifetime of relationships and associations to help Rapid City businesses thrive.
“One thing that always stuck with me about my dad being a firefighter is that he was able to help people,” says Daly. “I want to try to help as many people through my work as possible.”