Saint Paul – Governor Tim Pawlenty today announced that he has accepted the recommendations of the Commission on Judicial Selection accepted for a Second Judicial District trial court bench vacancy in Ramsey County that will occur with the retirement of the Honorable A. James Dickinson on January 1, 2008. The finalists are Manuel J. Cervantes, John H. Guthmann, Sangeeta Jain, and James J. Street.

Cervantes, of St. Paul, is an assistant Minnesota Attorney General, a position he has held since 2006. He was the St. Paul City Attorney from 2002 to 2006, a Second Judicial District Court Referee in Ramsey County from 1992 to 2002, a state Workers’ Compensation Court of Appeals Judge from 1986 to 1992, an assistant St. Paul City Attorney in 1986, a labor-management attorney with the American Federation of Government Employees in Bloomington from 1981 to 1985, and a housing management specialist with the U.S. Department of Urban Development in Minneapolis from 1980 to 1981. Cervantes earned a fellow certificate from the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Policy in St. Paul in 1986, his juris doctorate degree from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1980, and his bachelor of arts degree from Macalester College in St. Paul in 1974.

Guthmann, of St. Paul, is an attorney and partner with the Arden Hills law firm of Hansen, Dordell, Bradt, Odlaug and Bradt. He was the firm’s managing partner from 1999 to 2002, has been a partner since 1990, and was an associate attorney from 1981 through 1989. Guthmann clerked for Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Sheran from 1980 to 1981. Guthmann earned his juris doctorate degree from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul in 1980, where he was editor-in-chief of the William Mitchell Law Review; and his bachelor of arts degree from Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa in 1976.

Jain, of North Oaks, is a Fourth Judicial District Court Referee in Hennepin County, a child support magistrate, a law professor with Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, as well as a mediator and facilitator with the Minnesota Department of Education. Jain was a court referee in 2003 and again since December 2006, a Hennepin County child support magistrate since 1999, a Seventh Judicial District child support magistrate since 2006, a Hamline law professor since 2003, and a Department of Education mediator since 2007. Jain was a staff attorney with the Minnesota Justice Foundation in St. Paul from 2002 to 2003, an assistant Ramsey County Attorney from 1994 to 1999, a staff attorney with Legal Aid Society in Minneapolis in 1994, and a deputy district attorney in the San Diego District Attorney’s office in San Diego, California from 1989 to 1993. Jain earned her master’s of law degree from the University of San Diego Law School in 1989, her juris doctorate degree from Hamline University in St. Paul in 1988, and her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Minnesota in 1985.

Street, of St. Paul, is the supervising family law attorney with Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services, Inc. (SMRLS). He has been a supervising attorney with SMRLS in the St. Paul office since 1995. Previously, he was the managing attorney in the SMRLS Prior Lake office from 1990 to 1995, a staff attorney with Queens Legal Services, Inc. in Long Island City, New York from 1987 to 1990, and a staff attorney with Legal Services of Metropolitan Denver in Denver, Colorado from 1986 to 1987. Street earned his juris doctorate degree from the University of Denver College of Law in 1986, and his bachelor of arts degree cum laude from Macalester College in St. Paul in 1983.

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.