Appointed/Elected:

Appointed July 11, 2016, by Governor Mark Dayton. Elected in 2018 and 2024.

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