Posted: Monday, July 2, 2012

Minnesota State Court Administrator Sue K. Dosal received the 2012 Professional Excellence Award from the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) on June 28.

The Professional Excellence Award, the MSBA’s most prestigious award, recognizes and encourages professionalism among lawyers. All MSBA members are eligible to nominate or be nominated for the award. Dosal was nominated by Tenth Judicial District Administrator Mike Moriarity. The MSBA Council selects the recipient of the award, who must have demonstrated substantial efforts to advance the legal profession and the administration of justice.

“Over three decades and seven chief justices, Sue Dosal has been a steady force in the formation of the judicial system you see today,” said Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie S. Gildea. “She guided the 15-year transition to full state funding for our courts, the transition to a statewide and state-of-the-art case management system, the creation of the Court of Appeals, the construction of the Minnesota Judicial Center, and the unification of the court system under one central governing body, the Judicial Council. Sue had a major role in all of these important initiatives, and many more.” 

Kathleen Blatz and Russell Anderson, former Minnesota chief justices, wrote in an earlier tribute to Dosal that, “Sue has been central to the success of every major effort in the court system in Minnesota.”

Prior to her appointment as Minnesota’s state court administrator on July 16, 1982, Dosal served as Senior Staff Attorney for the National Center for State Courts, Deputy State Court Administrator for the state of Florida, Staff Director of the Florida Legislature’s Joint Select Committee on Judicial Personnel, and staff associate at the Institute for Court Management.

She will retire on Oct. 9, 2012.