Saint Paul – Governor Tim Pawlenty today announced that he has accepted the recommendations of the ad hoc screening committee that reviewed résumés and conducted interviews for an at-large vacancy on the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The opening occurred with the resignation of the Honorable Christopher J. Dietzen, effective February 19, 2008, who was appointed by Governor Pawlenty to the Minnesota Supreme Court. The finalists are Louise Dovre Bjorkman, Michelle A. Larkin, Alan F. Pendleton, and John R. Rodenberg.

Bjorkman, of Roseville, is an attorney and partner in the St. Paul law firm of Larson King, a position she has held since 2005. Previously, she was a Second Judicial District trial court bench judge in Ramsey County from 1998 to 2005, and an attorney and partner with the law firm of Rider, Bennett, Egan and Arundel in Minneapolis from 1985 to 1998. Bjorkman earned her juris doctorate degree cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1985, and her bachelor of arts degree magna cum laude from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa in 1982.

Larkin, of Big Lake, is a Tenth Judicial District trial court bench judge in Wright County, a position she has held since 2005. Prior to that, she was a senior attorney and trial team supervisor (2001-2005), attorney (1992-2001), and law clerk (1991-1992) in the Hennepin County Public Defender’s office. She also worked for the Minnesota House of Representatives Judiciary Committee in the 1989 and 1990 legislative sessions. Larkin earned her juris doctorate degree magna cum laude from William Mitchell College of Law in 1992, and her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Minnesota in 1988.

Pendleton, of Blaine, is a Tenth Judicial District trial court bench judge in Sherburne County, a position he has held since 1999. He was an assistant Anoka County Attorney from 1984 to 1986, and again from 1988 to 1999, where he was senior assistant county attorney at the time of his appointment to the bench. He was an attorney with the Minneapolis law firm of Schwebel, Goetz and Sieben from 1987 to 1988, and an attorney with the law firm of Robins, Zelle, Larson, and Kaplan (now known as Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi) in Minneapolis from 1986 to 1987, an assistant Winona County Attorney from 1982 to 1984, and an attorney with the Metropolitan Legal Clinic in Minneapolis from 1980 to 1982. Pendleton earned his juris doctorate degree from Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa in 1980, and his bachelor of science degree cum laude from Bemidji State University in 1977.

Rodenberg, of New Ulm, is a Fifth Judicial District trial court bench judge in Brown County, a position he has held since 2000. He was an attorney and partner in the New Ulm law firm of Berens, Rodenberg, and O’Connor from 1982 to 2000, and a staff attorney with the U.S. Social Security Administration in Minneapolis from 1981 to 1982. Rodenberg earned his juris doctorate degree cum laude from Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul in 1981, and his bachelor of arts degree cum laude from St. Olaf College in Northfield in 1978.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals has jurisdiction of appeals from all final decisions of trial courts other than conciliation courts except for appeals in election contests, convictions of murder in the first degree and appeals from the Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals and the Tax Court, which are appealed directly to the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeals consists of 16 judges; eight judges who serve at-large, and eight judges who are initially appointed – one each – from the state’s eight congressional districts. Eighty-one people submitted their résumés for consideration for this judgeship.