John W. Lang

Messerli | Kramer, attorney John W. Lang has over four decades of experience assisting clients with their legal needs. Certified as a specialist in real property law by the Minnesota State Bar Association, he focuses his practice primarily on real estate law with an emphasis on tax saving and deferral strategies and also handles matters that involve estate planning, corporate law and business tax issues.

Majoring in accounting, Mr. Lang completed his Bachelor of Science Business-Accounting degree at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management in 1979. He received his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1982. In addition to all the state and federal courts in Minnesota, he is licensed to practice in Wisconsin, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Minnesota, the United States Tax Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th and 11th Circuits.

Mr. Lang is well-versed in Internal Revenue Code 1031 tax deferred exchanges (forward, reverse, improvement, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, land use and development, condemnation, financing, partnership and LLC reorganizations/conversions, Internal Revenue Code Section 1031 tax deferred exchanges, Delaware statutory trusts and opportunity zone investments. He is also a certified public accountant (CPA) (inactive) and is a Qualified Neutral arbitrator and mediator by the Minnesota Supreme Court. 

A former president (12 years (two separate stints))and member of the board of directors of Messerli | Kramer, Mr. Lang is a member of the Hennepin County Bar Association, the State Bar of Wisconsin and the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Eminent Domain, Probate and Trust Law, and Real Property Law Sections.

For his professional excellence and ethical standards, Mr. Lang has been rated by his peers as AV Preeminent* through Martindale-Hubbell since 1995 (29 years), as well as by the judiciary since 2016.

*AV®, AV Preeminent®, Martindale-Hubbell Distinguished and Martindale-Hubbell Notable are certification marks used under license in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell® is the facilitator of a peer review rating process. Ratings reflect the anonymous opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Rating™ fall into two categories – legal ability and general ethical standards.