Lyndsey Olson

Lyndsey Olson is an American attorney, military veteran, and executive. She served as City Attorney for the City of Saint Paul, Minnesota from February 2018 to January 2026, appointed by Mayor Melvin Carter. She is the second-longest-serving City Attorney in Saint Paul's history. In 2026, she co-founded Grey Matter Strategic Partners, a strategic consulting firm based in Saint Paul.

Early life and education

Olson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Law & Rhetoric from Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, in 1998. She received her Juris Doctor in 2003 from Hamline University School of Law (now Mitchell Hamline School of Law) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she served as a Primary Editor of the Hamline Law Review. She is a 2020 graduate of the U.S. Army War College, where she earned a Master of Strategic Studies (M.S.S.).

Minnesota Army National Guard

Olson began her National Guard service as In-House Legal Aid Counsel from 2005 to 2008, where she established the Minnesota National Guard Legal Assistance Office, providing legal representation to servicemembers and their families on matters including rights under the Servicemembers' Civil Relief Act (SCRA), divorce, custody, and consumer law.

Olson was instrumental in the passage of the Minnesota Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act (2015), which provides custody and visitation protections for military parents during deployment.

In 2019, she was selected to co-lead the Minnesota National Guard's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Board and co-authored the board's report, released in July 2020, on practices, policies, and training related to sexual assault prevention. The office was reviewing nearly 100 cases, 87 of which were curfew violations.