Cody Niess

Cody Niess is an associate in the firm's Business Transactions practice group primarily supporting clients on corporate matters and transactions. Cody joined the firm after serving as a summer associate in 2023, where he focused primarily on agribusiness, business transactions and litigation matters. Additionally, Cody served as a law clerk at Lathrop GPM while completing a J.D./M.B.A. dual degree program in Fall 2023 to Spring 2024, working primarily on a case involving NGFA arbitration.

Cody brings a wealth of experience and a unique perspective to the Business Transactions practice group, having both personal and professional roots in the agriculture industry. Cody's background in agriculture stems from hands-on experience that comes from being raised and having lived and worked on his family's beef and dairy farm in Northern Iowa, and in his various roles as a commodity trader after graduating from Iowa State University in 2013.

As a commodity trader, Cody held various roles that culminated in his leadership as the general manager of a joint venture that included a newly designed and developed high-capacity shuttle train loading grain facility in Northwest Minnesota. As General Manager, the joint venture, owned in portion by a single-location agricultural cooperative, saw substantial growth by increasing its patronage base by 40% in one year. Cody's experience as a commodity trader and general manager, along with his educational pursuits has helped him develop business acumen and experience in various commodity trading capacities, business development, freight management, and contract dispute resolution and arbitration.

Cody's connection to agricultural cooperatives is both professional and personal. His family's long-standing involvement in the cooperative movement, including his great-grandfather's role in establishing a Northern Iowa agricultural cooperative in 1945, his grandfather's role being Board President of the same Northern Iowa Cooperative and promoting agricultural cooperatives in Ukraine in the 1990's, or his father's role being board president of the cooperative following that; shows that Cody's professional passion for agriculture and agricultural cooperatives can be explained through his genetic makeup.