Appointed/Elected:
Appointed July 11, 2016, by Governor Mark Dayton. Elected in 2018. Current term expires Jan. 2025.
Professional and Community Activities:
- Presiding Judge,Civil Division, Fourth Judicial District
- Fourth Judicial District Executive Committee
- Fourth Judicial District Facilities and Security Committee (Chair, 2021-2023)
- Lead Judge, Division 4 Suburban Criminal Courts
- Board of Directors, Minnesota Volunteer Lawyers Network (2022 to present)
- Minnesota Lavender Bar Association (Board member, 2020-present; Member, 2017-present)
- International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges
- Minnesota State Canvassing Board (2020)
- Minnesota Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board (Chair, 2016; Member, 2013 to 2016)
- Volunteer high school mock trial judge, Minnesota State Bar Association (2015 to present)
- Board of Directors, Consumer Credit of Minnesota (2015 to 2016)
- GED tutor, Open Door Learning Center (North Minneapolis), Minnesota Literacy Council (2014 to 2019)
- Minnesota State Bar Association (1996 to present)
- Washington State Bar Association (2004 to 2016)
Presentations:
- “Discovery and Pretrial Litigation: A View From the Bench,” (National Business Institute, May 2023)
- “The Judges View: Minnesota Civil Litigation Do’s and Don’ts” with Judges Laura Nelson and Mark Ireland (National Business Institute, May 2023)
- “LGBTQ Judges Roundtable,” with Justice Margaret Chutich and Judges David Piper and Melissa Houghtaling (Minnesota Lavender Bar Association Annual Conference, February 2023)
- “November 2020 I-94 Protests: Managing One of Minnesota’s Largest Mass Arrests,” with Judge Michael Browne (Annual Conference of Minnesota Judges, December 2022)
- “The Judges’ View: Minnesota Civil Litigation Do’s and Don’ts,” with Judges Kevin Burke, Karen Janisch, and Laura Nelson (National Business Institute, April 2022)
- “Electronic Evidence in Family and Civil Court,” with Judge Jamie Anderson and Referee Rick Stebbins (Fourth District Judges’ Spring Retreat, April 2022)
- “Civil Bench Trials,” with Judges Jamie Anderson, Laurie Miller, and Patrick Robben (Presentation to MSBA Civil Litigation Section, March 2022)
- “So You Want to be a Judge?” with Judges Theodora Gaitas and Colette Routel (Minnesota Lavender Bar Association Annual Conference, February 2022)
- “Career Conversations for Law Students,” (Minnesota Lavender Bar Association, October 2020)
- Annual Family Court Roundtable (MSBA Family Law Section, 2017-2019)
Past Employment:
Attorney, Christian Sande LLC (2006 to 2016)
Attorney, Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P. (1996 to 2005)
Education:
J.D., cum laude, William Mitchell College of Law (1996)
B.A., International Relations, Hamline University (1990)
Assignment History:
Civil/Criminal, August 3, 2020 - Present
Family, April 14, 2017 - July 31, 2020
Criminal, July 11, 2016 - Present
Practice Pointers and Preferences
Trial Ground Rules