Governor Tim Pawlenty today announced the appointment of Jeffrey S. Remick and Tamara L. Yon to two Ninth Judicial District trial court bench vacancies.  The openings occurred with the retirement of the Honorable Dennis J. Murphy on November 7, 2005 and the upcoming retirement of the Honorable John M. Roue on January 31, 2006.  The Minnesota Supreme Court certified the chambers of both of these positions for the city of Crookston in Polk County.  Twelve people applied for these two positions.

"Both Jeff and Tamara have a strong work ethic, are active in the Crookston community, and have a significant practice in the area of family law, which continues to be a growing component of the cases a judge handles," Governor Pawlenty said.  "As judges, they will both be a credit to the citizens of Polk County for years to come."

Remick is an attorney and partner with the Odland, Fitzgerald, Reynolds and Remick law firm in Crookston.  He has been a partner with the law firm since 1995, and an associate attorney with the firm's predecessor, Odland, Fitzgerald and Reynolds, from 1990 to 1994.  He was also an associate attorney with the Reed and Pond law firm in Mound from 1989 to 1990.  Remick earned his juris doctorate degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1989, and his bachelor of arts degree magna cum laude from Concordia College in Moorhead in 1985.

Remick is a member of the Minnesota State Bar Association as well as the Fourteenth District Bar Association, where he is currently treasurer.  He is also a judicare panel attorney with Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota, a member of the Red River Valley Emerging Leadership Program Board of Directors, Red River Valley Shows Board of Directors, and has served on the Little Brothers of Crookston Board of Directors, as a Guardian ad Litem, and a member of Ducks Unlimited.  Remick is also active in his church, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, having served as president of the congregation, a member of the Board of Deacons, and as a Ninth Grade Sunday school teacher.

Remick, 43, was born in Bemidji, and lives in Crookston with his wife, Ingrid, and their three children, Ryan, 16, Kristin, 14, and Aaron, 12.

Yon is an attorney and partner with the Johannson, Rust, Yon, Stock and Rasmussen law firm in Crookston, a position she has held since 1999.  She was an associate attorney with the firm from 1994 to 1999.  Yon has also been a Chapter Seven trustee - based in Crookston - with the United States Department of Justice since 2003, and an adjunct professor with the University of Minnesota in Crookston since 1999.  Yon earned her juris doctorate from the University of North Dakota Law School in Grand Forks in 1994, and her bachelor of arts degree from Concordia College in Moorhead in 1991.

Yon is the volunteer attorney for Crookston Area Habitat for Humanity, Inc., serves on the Northwest Minnesota Legal Services, Inc. Board of Directors, is a member of the American Bar Association, Minnesota State Bar Association, Minnesota Women Lawyers, and the Fourteenth District Bar Association, where she was president in 2004-2005.  She is a Sunday school teacher as well as a piano accompanist at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, a director with the Crookston Education Foundation, treasurer of Friends of the Library, Inc., in Crookston, and a director with Sunrise Center - a daycare center run by the Sisters of Mount Saint Benedict - in Crookston.

Yon, 37, was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised in Roseau, and lives in Crookston with her husband, Bill, and their two children.