The following article summarizes the original event which is listed below the summary.
Providing justice to Minnesota
Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea returned to campus to speak to the retirees association at our March forum. She offered a comprehensive review of the Minnesota judicial system, addressing everything from the selection of judges and the handling of 1.3 million cases annually, to the emergence of treatment courts throughout the state. Gildea has been chief justice for nine years. During her tenure, Minnesota’s court system has been called out by experts as one of the two best-managed in the country (along with Utah).
Gildea is an iconic University of Minnesota success story. She is from a small town in northern Minnesota, a distinguished graduate of U of M Morris, and a lawyer who represented the University for 11 years. She told us her great passions in life are the University and providing justice to the citizens of Minnesota. One of her major issues, Gildea said, is assuring that self-represented litigants are properly supported in Minnesota’s judicial system. “If U.S. Bank Stadium (66,000 people) were filled with individuals in need of legal aid there would be only 22 legal aid attorneys to assist them,” is how she characterized the current “justice gap.”
She also described a number of treatment courts that have been created across the state to assure justice and appropriate referrals for drug and DWI offenders, family dependency cases, as well as juvenile, mental health, and veterans affairs. “Studies show these courts work,” she said.
Gildea emphasized the need for judicial selection to be free of partisan politics. In her view we need to avoid the politicization of judicial elections and promote the selection of men and women for our courts based on their merits and experience, not their affiliations.
Finally, she talked about the modernization of the courts through electronic filing systems, and ended with a call for us to assist in keeping Minnesota’s judiciary among the nation’s leading systems. Specifically, she urged us to become involved in guardian ad litem programs, which are desperately in need of volunteers.
It was an engaging presentation that concluded with an enthusiastic set of questions from our members, which were addressed articulately.
Go here to see the slides from Gildea’s presentation.
—Bill Donohue, Program Committee chair and president-elect
We welcome Lorie Gildea back to campus
Tue, March 26 2019, 11:30am
West Wing Dining Room, Campus Club, Fourth Floor, Coffman Memorial Union
We are pleased to announce that Lorie Skjerven Gildea, chief justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, will speak to UMRA at our March 26 luncheon. Among other things, she will comment on the effectiveness of the judicial system in Minnesota and her own work as chief justice. Gildea is a devoted fan of Gophers athletics and we expect she will express her thoughts in that realm as well. She is an engaging and eloquent speaker you will enjoy hearing.
Gildea is Minnesota’s 22nd chief justice and has served in that role since 2010. Before that appointment she served as an associate justice on the Supreme Court for four years, and as a district court judge and prosecutor in Hennepin County.
Perhaps more importantly for our purposes she is an outstanding graduate of the University of Minnesota Morris, a perfect 4.0 student who earned her undergraduate degree in three years and once said, “The day I decided to attend UMM was one of the best days of my life.” She was honored with UMM’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007.
From 1993 to 2004, Gildea, a native of Plummer in northwest Minnesota, served as a litigator in the University’s Office of General Counsel, representing the University in the most difficult and controversial matters.
Gildea graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center and for several years worked in private practice for a well-known firm in Washington, D.C. She currently serves as chair of the Minnesota Judicial Council and last year was appointed by U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts to serve on the Judicial Conference Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction.
Chief Justice Gildea is a hugely accomplished lawyer and an even better human being. Please welcome her back to campus and to our March forum.
—Bill Donohue, president-elect and chair, Program Committee
Upcoming Events
We are fortunate to have UMRA member and former Minnesota Landscape Arboretum director Peter Moe to lead this approximately 3.7-mile hike at the Arboretum on Monday, May 6. Plan to have lunch together after the hike at the Eatery café inside the Oswald Visitor Center.
This session will continue the discussion begun in the May 8, 2023 session. See that article for details.
If you currently live in your own home or apartment, have you looked ahead to when you might want to consider a senior living option? Do you have any idea what those options might be? How much they cost? What they provide? UMRA’s May 14 workshop will provide an overview of the world of senior living and the basic information you need.
You’re invited to join the final Family History Interest Group meeting for 2023–24. This will be an opportunity to ask questions related to family history, share insights, talk about recent projects, and suggest topics for next year.
Stephanie Daily will lead the discussion of Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by best-selling author Mary Roach when the UMRA Book Club meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 17.
The May 20 hike will start at the Historic Lift Bridge in Stillwater and go along the river to the new bridge, cross over and then back on the Wisconsin side, a total of approximately 5 miles. Most of the route is paved. We will eat lunch after at Brian's Bar and Grill in Stillwater. Car pooling will be available.
Climatologist and meteorologist Mark Seeley joined the U of M faculty in 1978 and has been a weekly commentator on Minnesota Public Radio since 1992. We are honored to welcome him as our guest speaker for UMRA’s May Luncheon Forum and 2024 Annual Meeting. He is always entertaining and informative.
UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club welcomes back, for the second time, author Julie Schumacher, U of M Regents professor of creative writing and English, for a conversation about her novel The Shakespeare Requirement.
We are in for a treat on June 3! Lynn Anderson, will lead us on trails at two parks near her Monticello home. Bring a bag lunch and we will gather in Lynn's yard along the Mississippi River for eating and socializing after the hike.
Get out to the ballpark with fellow UMRA members for the annual U of M Day at Target Field as the Minnesota Twins take on the Oakland Athletics on June 14 at 7:10 p.m.
Please join us at 9:30 on June 17, 2024 for a walk around Lake Como in St. Paul before attending the UMRA Summer Social and Picnic starting at 11 at the Como Pavilion. A perfect opportunity to get in a walk before we gather to celebrate summer.
Picnic under the covered, open-air Como pavilion, gaze at the water, spy some birds, catch up with friends and former colleagues, and meet new members. We’ll have lunch with plenty of time for visiting and then compete in teams as we are challenged by our Quiz master(s)!
Healthy aging, mindfulness, fighting ageism, and more will be the focus of the third annual Age-Friendly University Day to be held on the U of M Twin Cities campus.