Saint Paul – Governor Tim Pawlenty today announced that he has accepted the recommendations of the Commission on Judicial Selection for a Ninth Judicial District trial court bench vacancy in the city of Brainerd in Crow Wing County due to the retirement of the Honorable John R. Leitner on May 31, 2009. The finalists are Erik J. Askegaard, David F. Hermerding, and Diana M. Sweeney.

Askegaard, of Brainerd, is an attorney and president of the Askegaard and Robinson law firm in Brainerd, a position he has held since 1991. He was an associate attorney with the Jeffries, Olson and Flom law firm in Moorhead from 1987 to 1991, and a law clerk to North Dakota Supreme Court Justice Herbert L. Meschke in Bismarck from 1986 to 1987. Askegaard earned his juris doctorate degree from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks in 1986, and his bachelor of science business administration degree cum laude from the University of North Dakota in 1982.

Hermerding, of Brainerd, is an assistant Crow Wing County Attorney, a position he has held since 2007. He was the managing attorney of the Ninth Judicial District Public Defender’s office in Brainerd from 1998 to 2007, an attorney and partner with the Brainerd law firm of Mitchell and Hermerding from 1995 to 1998, an associate attorney with the Brainerd law firm of Ryan, Ruttger and Drake from 1994 to 1995, and an associate attorney with the Erickson Law Offices in Brainerd from 1993 to 1994. Hermerding earned his juris doctorate degree from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul in 1993, and his bachelor of science degree from St. John’s University in Collegeville in 1984.

Sweeney, of Bemidji, is an assistant Ninth Judicial District Public Defender in Bemidji, a position she has held since 1996. She has also served as an adjunct professor at Bemidji State University from 1998 to 2001. Previously, she was an attorney with the law firm of Shermoen, LeDuc and Jaksa in International Falls from 1990 to 1996, and a legal temporary worker assigned at the Dorsey and Whitney law firm in Minneapolis from 1988 to 1990. Sweeney earned her juris doctorate degree from Quinnipiac University School of Law in Hamden, Connecticut in 1988, and her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1984.

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 13 applications for this judicial vacancy.