When Steve H. Snyder founded Steven H. Snyder & Associates in 2004, assisted reproductive technology (ART) law was largely uncharted territory. Legal protections for intended parents, surrogates, and donors were uncertain at best and nonexistent at worst. Steve recognized the urgent need for skilled, compassionate legal guidance in this space and set out to create something new: a law firm dedicated entirely to helping people grow their families through third-party reproduction.
More than twenty years later, that founding vision remains our law firm’s north star. Under the leadership of attorneys Taylor Rolf and Jenna Hanson, SHS & Associates continues to serve intended parents, surrogates, and donors throughout Minnesota, across the US, and internationally. Our work today is centered around the same commitment to education, ethics, and family that has always set this practice apart.
The story of how our Minneapolis law firm got here is one worth knowing. Keep reading to learn more about our history and the people behind it, and when you’re ready to take the next step, contact us to arrange your complimentary initial consultation.
In 2003, Steve took ownership and direction of IARC Surrogacy, the first surrogacy agency in the United States. From the outset, Steve’s goal was to implement ethical processes, transparent safeguards, and comprehensive protections for intended parents, surrogates, and the children at the heart of each arrangement. That experience gave him a unique understanding of the surrogacy process from every angle, and it planted the seeds for what would come next.
In 2004, Steve founded Steven H. Snyder & Associates with the mission of helping Minneapolis families grow. At the time, intended parents going through surrogacy and donation processes had few legal protections and almost no options for skilled and experienced legal advocacy. Steve set out to change that. He built a practice that was devoted entirely to ART law and centered from the start on education, transparency, and proactive legal protection. This firm would go on to shape the field itself.
In 2006, Steve litigated in re Paternity & Custody of Baby Boy A., Minnesota’s first contested surrogacy case. He prevailed at both the trial level and on appeal. That victory established Steve as a leading authority in ART law and set an important legal precedent. However, the case also revealed something to Steve that would prove equally significant. He realized that litigation over such deeply personal matters carries a heavy human cost. Beyond the financial burden of going to court, contested surrogacy proceedings take an enormous emotional and psychological toll on everyone involved.
Determined to spare families that hardship in the future, Steve developed a proactive, carefully structured legal framework designed to prevent disputes before they arise. His approach involved building thorough donor agreements, comprehensive surrogacy contracts, and carefully developed parentage strategies from the very beginning of each arrangement. Steve created this system to prioritize clarity, dignity, and protection for all parties. As a result of those efforts, our Minneapolis law firm’s reputation grew, and SHS & Associates became a trusted partner to surrogacy agencies, fertility clinics, and medical and psychological professionals throughout the area.
When SHS & Associates first opened its doors, Minnesota had no specific ART statutes and virtually no relevant case law. The law firm was operating in genuine legal uncertainty, where the rights of intended parents, surrogates, and children had no clear statutory foundation. Rather than wait for the law to catch up, Steve and his team got to work.
Drawing on existing laws and court procedures, our Minneapolis law firm developed an innovative pathway through which any intended parent, regardless of their genetic connection to the child, could establish legal parentage. This approach proved especially significant for LGBTQ+ intended parents, for whom clear and enforceable parentage rights were often the most difficult to secure.
In 2017, Minnesota courts formally adopted our law firm’s approach as the standardized process for surrogacy and parentage matters. That framework remains the foundation for such cases in Minnesota today, a testament to our team’s lasting contribution to ART law in the state.
Attorney Taylor Rolf’s path to leading SHS & Associates began in 2015, when she enrolled in an assisted reproductive technology law course during her final year at William Mitchell College of Law. That course happened to be taught by an adjunct professor and lawyer named Steve Snyder. Inspired by both the subject matter and the profound difference this area of law makes in people’s lives, Taylor joined the firm in the summer of 2016, shortly after graduating cum laude.
From her first days as a lawyer at the firm, Taylor demonstrated exceptional legal insight, strategic thinking, and an unwavering commitment to the intended parents and surrogates she served. Over the next seven years, she immersed herself in every dimension of ART law. She developed a deep understanding of state-by-state legal frameworks, gestational carrier agreements, parentage cases, donor agreements, and the network of professionals involved in any surrogacy arrangement.
When Steve began thinking about the firm’s future, he made the clear and deliberate choice to have Taylor carry the mission forward. In 2023, she officially took over as the firm’s owner.
Before joining SHS & Associates in 2022, Jenna Hanson spent several years clerking at Hennepin County District Court, Minnesota’s largest trial court. There, she worked under one of the two judicial officers who presided over all of the county’s ART cases. That role gave her a front-row view of our firm’s groundbreaking work playing out in the very courtroom where outcomes are decided.
Jenna watched firsthand as the parentage approach developed by Taylor and Steve provided stability, clarity, and legal security to families working through the complex realities of surrogacy law. She saw the human stakes of this work up close and developed an understanding of both the procedural and substantive dimensions of ART cases long before she joined the team.
Jenna also brings a personal connection to family-building to her work, having grown up with adopted siblings and having adopted in-laws. That combination of professional insight and personal investment gives her a genuinely distinctive voice within our practice.
Since Taylor assumed ownership in 2023, she and Jenna have continued to build on our firm’s remarkable legacy while establishing their own leadership in the field. Together, they have cultivated strong, trusting relationships with donor and surrogacy agencies, fertility clinics, insurance professionals, and ART attorneys both domestically and internationally. At the same time, they have thoughtfully refined our firm’s legal processes to reflect advances in medicine and law while maintaining the rigorous ethical standards the firm has always upheld.
Our attorneys have expanded their services to meet the evolving needs of today’s intended parents, including surrogate maternity insurance coverage review and expedited passport assistance. Our lawyers also provide documentation support for parental leave, insurance eligibility, US entry, and the establishment of parentage and citizenship abroad.
The attorneys at SHS & Associates proudly serve individuals and couples of all backgrounds and family structures throughout Minnesota, across the US, and internationally. We take particular pride in our long history of serving the LGBTQ+ community. We have more than 1,200 surrogacy-related matters under our belt to date, and our Minneapolis law firm continues to bring experience, innovation, and genuine heart to every case we handle.
Your path to parenthood is deeply personal, and you deserve legal support from a team that sees it that way. Our Minneapolis attorneys bring exceptional knowledge, genuine compassion, and a deep commitment to education and transparency to each case. We invite you to arrange a complimentary initial consultation with our team and start the conversation today.
