Saint Paul - Governor Tim Pawlenty today announced that he has accepted the recommendations of the Commission on Judicial Selection for a Fourth Judicial District trial court bench vacancy in Hennepin County.  The opening occurred with the retirement of the Honorable Myron S. Greenberg on March 1, 2005.  The finalists are Lorie S. Gildea, M. Jacqueline Regis, E. David Reyes, and Raymond A. Wood.

Gildea, of Minneapolis, is an assistant Hennepin County attorney, a position she has held since 2004.  She was associate general counsel for the University of Minnesota from 1993 to 2004, and an associate attorney with the law firm of Arent Fox in Washington, DC from 1986 to 1993.  Gildea earned her juris doctorate degree magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law School in Washington, DC in 1986 and her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Minnesota in 1983.

Regis, of Golden Valley, is an assistant vice president and senior corporate counsel with St. Paul Travelers Insurance Companies, Inc. in St. Paul.  She has been with the firm since 1996.  Regis was an assistant attorney general in the Minnesota Attorney General's office from 1985 to 1996, a staff attorney and hearing officer with the Massachusetts Labor Relations Commission in Boston from 1981 to 1983, and a judicial law clerk for the Massachusetts Superior Court in Boston from 1980 to 1981.  She was also an adjunct professor of law at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul from 1991 to 1995.  Regis earned her juris doctorate degree from Suffolk University Law School in Boston in 1980, and her bachelor of arts degree from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois in 1975.

Reyes, of Edina, is an attorney and owner of the Sabby and Reyes law firm in Edina, a position he has held since 2001.  He was an assistant United States attorney in Minneapolis and Tucson, Arizona from 1995 to 2001, an assistant Hennepin County attorney from 1989 to 1995, an associate attorney with the Minneapolis law firm of Lefevere, Lefler, Kennedy, O'Brian and Drawz in 1989, and a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Minneapolis from 1985 to 1989.  Reyes earned his juris doctorate degree from Boston College of Law School in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1984 and his bachelor of arts degree from Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California in 1979.

Wood, of Minneapolis, is an attorney and partner with the law firm of Goins and Wood in Minneapolis, a position he has held since 2001.  He also serves as a conflicts attorney with the Fourth Judicial District public defender's office, an adjunct professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, a Fourth Judicial District Conciliation Court Judge and chairman of the Minnesota Department of Human Service's Special Review Panel.  He was an attorney and partner with the St. Paul law firm of Ward, Goins and Wood from 1997 to 2001, a contract attorney with the Fourth Judicial District public defender's office from 1995 to 1997, a solo practitioner in Minneapolis from 1987 to 1989 and again from 1993 to 1997, an attorney and partner with the law firm of Archibong and Wood in St. Paul from 1989 to 1993, and a judicial law clerk with Hennepin County District Court from 1985 to 1987.  Wood earned his juris doctorate degree from William Mitchell in 1986 and his bachelor of arts degree from Lincoln University in Lincoln University, Pennsylvania in 1972.

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 28 applications for this judicial vacancy.