In 1986, she left the partnership and opened her own practice, representing many investors who had suffered large losses from the mishandling of their accounts before and during the 1987 market crash. The firm grew and it represented hundreds of investors who lost money in Prudential limited partnerships, in bond funds, and in other investment-related fraud cases. At this time, the firm began to represent classes of investors in class action litigation.

Ms. Nygaard is a member and former president of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association, a member of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association, the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association, the Missouri Trial Lawyers Association, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the American Bar Association. She served on the Board of Directors of the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association from 1987-1993. She is an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association, the New York Stock Exchange, the Chicago Board of Options Exchange, the National Futures Association, and the National Association of Securities Dealers. She has served on the advisory committee to the Kansas Securities Commissioner and is a former member of the Kansas City Board of Trade.

She writes and speaks extensively on issues involving the investing public. She has spoken on securities issues for the Practicing Law Institute, The Insurance Regulatory Education Board, the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association and many meetings of bar associations, trust officers' associations and securities industry associations. She has chaired many sections on securities law and complex litigation matters for continuing legal education programs.  Her published works include "Class Actions against Insurance Companies," Trial, October 1999, and "Making the Compliance Officer a Power Witness" Practicing Law Institute, New York, 1996. She has been selected for listing in The Best Lawyers in American since 1995 for class action litigation. She has been quoted in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Newsweek, and The Kansas City Star, about investor rights and remedies.