Saint Paul -- The Commission on Judicial Selection today announced three finalists for a Ninth Judicial District trial court bench vacancy in the city of Bemidji in Beltrami County. The vacancy occurred with the disability retirement of the Honorable Richard C. Taylor on December 31, 2004. The Supreme Court transferred the chambers of this judgeship from Polk County to Beltrami County. The finalists are Mary Kay Klein, Kristine Kolar, and Shari Schluchter.

Klein, of Bemidji, has been an attorney in private practice in Bemidji since 1982 and a part-time federal magistrate judge in Bemidji since 2003. She was a law clerk for Chief Judge Paul Benson in United States District Court in Fargo, North Dakota from 1980 to 1982. Klein earned her juris doctorate degree from the University of North Dakota Law School in 1980 and her bachelor of science degree from St. Cloud State University in 1973.

Kolar, of Bemidji, is the Ninth Judicial District chief public defender, a position she has held since 1996. Previously, she was the interim chief public defender, managing attorney and an assistant public defender and has been an attorney in the Ninth Judicial District public defender's office since 1995. She was also an assistant Fourth Judicial District public defender in Hennepin County from 1991 through 1994. Kolar earned her juris doctorate degree cum laude from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul in 1991 and her bachelor of arts degree from Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin in 1987.

Schluchter, of Bemidji, has been the chief assistant Beltrami County attorney since 1990 and was an assistant Beltrami County attorney from 1985 to 1990. She was also an attorney with the Bemidji law firm of Faver, Schluchter and Tingelstad from 1992 to 1995 and an attorney with the Bemidji law firm of Keyes and Faver from 1985 to 1992. Schluchter earned her juris doctorate degree (1985) and her bachelor of science degree cum laude (1982) from the University of North Dakota.

The Commission on Judicial Selection screens judicial candidates and makes recommendations to the Governor for district court vacancies that occur during the term of a judge. The commission consists of 13 members: nine at-large members and four members from the judicial district. The commission members include attorneys and non-attorneys appointed by the governor and the Minnesota Supreme Court. The commission received 14 applications for this judicial vacancy.