Saint Paul – Governor Tim Pawlenty today announced that he has accepted the recommendations of the Commission on Judicial Selection for a First Judicial District trial court bench vacancy in the city of Hastings in Dakota County due to the retirement of the Honorable Leslie M. Metzen on May 20, 2009. The finalists are Andrew M. LeFevour, Erica H. MacDonald, and Ann M. Offermann.

LeFevour, of Sunfish Lake, is a senior assistant Hennepin County Attorney, a position he has held since 1999. He has been an assistant Hennepin County attorney since 1994. Previously, he was an attorney with the U.S. Air Force Environmental Law and Litigation Office in Washington, D.C. from 1993 to 1994, an assistant State’s Attorney in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office in Chicago, Illinois from 1988 to 1993, a part-time attorney with the Dunkley, Bennett and Christensen law firm in Minneapolis in 1988, and an attorney with the Law Office of John Gubbins in Chicago from 1987 to 1988. LeFevour earned his master of laws degree from George Washington University National Law Center in Washington, D.C. in 1994, his juris doctorate degree from Loyola Law School of Chicago in 1987, and his bachelor of science degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1984.

MacDonald, of Mendota Heights, is an assistant United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She has been an assistant U.S. Attorney since 2001, and previously was a judicial law clerk to Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Harriet Lansing from 2000 to 2001, an assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago, Illinois in 2000, an associate attorney with the Kirkland and Ellis law firm in Chicago in 1999, and a judicial law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge James H. Alesia in Chicago from 1997 to 1999. MacDonald earned her juris doctorate degree from DePaul University College of Law in Chicago in 1997, and her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana in 1989.

Offermann, of Apple Valley, is an assistant Dakota County Attorney, a position she has held since 1999. She was an assistant attorney general in the Minnesota Attorney General’s office from 1995 to 1999, and a prosecuting intern in Johnson County, Iowa from 1992 to 1994. Offermann earned her juris doctorate degree with distinction from the University of Iowa College of Law in Iowa City in 1994, and her bachelor of arts degree from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa in 1991.

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 34 applications for this judicial vacancy.