Governor Tim Pawlenty today announced the appointment of Mary Carroll Leahy to a Third Judicial District trial court bench vacancy in the city of Winona in Winona County.  The vacancy occurred with the retirement of the Honorable Lawrence T. Collins on December 16, 2005.  Eleven people applied for this position.

Leahy is a senior staff attorney with American Family Insurance in Rochester, a position she has held since 1998.  She was an associate attorney with the law firm of Hoversten, Johnson, Beckmann and Hovey in Austin from 1992 to 1998, an associate attorney with Michael D. Klampe and Associates in Rochester from 1991 to 1992, and a Third Judicial District law clerk from 1990 to 1991.  Leahy earned her juris doctorate degree cum laude from Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul in 1990, and her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1984.

"Lawyers who work with Mary say she takes a very hands-on approach to her work, listens and analyzes the issues, and works to solve the problem and come up with a reasonable solution.  This will serve her well as a judge where problem-solving is a large and growing part of the job," Governor Pawlenty said.

Leahy is a member of the American, Minnesota State, and Olmsted County Bar Associations, the Defense Research Institute, Minnesota Defense Bar Association, and is a Supreme Court-appointed member of the Court's No-Fault Standing Committee.  She has also served as a volunteer attorney coach and judge for the Minnesota State Bar Association's Mock Trial Program, a judge for Hamline University's Mock Trial Competition, and had served as a mentor for the Austin High School Mentorship Program.  She has also been a Daisy Scout Leader and a volunteer at her children's schools.

Leahy, 44, was born in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, grew up in Monroe, Wisconsin, and resides in Rochester with her husband, Timothy, and their four children, Shannon, 10, James, 8, Erin, 8, and Matthew, 4.