List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Minnesota

This is a list of the first minority male lawyer(s) and judge(s) in Minnesota. It includes the year in which the men were admitted to practice law (in parentheses). Also included are the men who achieved other distinctions such becoming the first in their state to graduate from law school or become a political figure.

Firsts in state history

Law Degree

First Somali American male: Hassan Ali Mohamud in 2002

Lawyers

Jacob Jackson Noah (1851): First Jewish American male lawyer in Minnesota Fredrick McGhee (1889): First African American male lawyer in Minnesota William F. Campbell (1890s): First Native American male (Chippewa) lawyer in Minnesota Raul O. Salazar (1962): First Latino American male lawyer in Minnesota

State judges

Charles Bechhoefer: First Jewish American male judge in Minnesota (1923) James J. Irving: First Native American (Sioux) male judicial officer in Minnesota (c. 1924) L. Howard Bennett: First African American male judge in Minnesota (1957) Stephen L. Maxwell (1953): First African American male to serve as a district court judge in Minnesota (1968) Alberto Miera, Jr.: First Hispanic American male judge in Minnesota (1983) Alan Page (1978): First African American male to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court (1993) Tony N. Leung: First Asian American male judge in Minnesota (1994) Robert A. Blaeser (1979): First Native American (Anishinaabe from the White Earth Band of Ojibwe) male judge in Minnesota (1995)Upon Blaeser's appointment as a Judge of the Fourth Judicial District-Hennepin County in 1995 Edward Toussaint: First African American male to serve on the Minnesota Court of Appeals (1995) David Stras: First Jewish American male to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court (2010) Peter Reyes Jr. (1997): First Hispanic American male to serve on the Minnesota Court of Appeals (2014) David Stras: First Jewish American male to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court (2010) Leonardo Castro: First Hispanic American male to serve as a chief judge in a judicial district in Minnesota (2020) Keala Ede: First Native Hawaiian male judge in Minnesota (upon his appointment to the Minnesota District Court in 2022) Karl Procaccini: First Muslim American male to serve as a Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court (2023) Reynaldo Aligada, Jr.: First Asian American male (Filipino descent) to serve as Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court (2026)

Federal judges Michael J. Davis (1972): First African American male appointed as a Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota (1994) and its Chief Judge (2008) Leo Brisbois: First Native American male to serve as a U.S. Magistrate judge in Minnesota (2010) Tony N. Leung: First Asian American male to become a federal court judge in Minnesota (2011) Jeffrey Bryan: First Latino American male federal judge in Minnesota (2023)

Attorney General

Keith Ellison (1990): First African American (and first Muslim) to become Attorney General of Minnesota (2018)

United States Attorney

B. Todd Jones: First African American male to serve as the United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota (2009)

Assistant United States Attorney

Donald M. Lewis: First African American male to serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota (1982-1988)

County Attorney

Ed Rogers: First Native American male elected to serve as a County Attorney in Minnesota (1910) John J. Choi (1995): First Korean American male to serve as a County Attorney in Minnesota (2011)

Public Defender

Daniel Lew: First Asian American male to serve as a Chief Public Defender in Minnesota (2014)

Political Office

Keith Ellison (1990): First African American male (and first Muslim) elected to the U.S. Congress from Minnesota (2006)

Bar Association

Jarvis Jones: First African American to serve as the President of the Minnesota State Bar Association (c. 2001) Leo Brisbois: First male of American Indian descent to serve as the President of the Minnesota State Bar Association (2009) Phil Duran: First openly LGBT male to serve as the President of the Minnesota State Bar Association (2013)

Firsts in local history John Francis Wheaton: First African American male to graduate from the University of Minnesota Law School (1897) [Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, Minnesota] William R. Morris (c. 1889): First African American male lawyer in Minneapolis, Minnesota [Hennepin County, Minnesota] Esteban Rivera: First Latino American male to serve as the President of the Hennepin County Bar Association Juan Hoyos: First Latino American male to serve as President of the Ramsey County Bar Association (c. 2009) Leonardo Castro: First Hispanic American male to serve as a Chief Judge of the Second Judicial District (2020) [Ramsey County, Minnesota] Charles LaDue: First Native American (White Earth Band of Ojibwe) male law graduate from the William Mitchell College of Law (1972) [Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota] Manuel Cervantes: First Latino American male lawyer in Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota Shawn L. Pearson: First African American male judge in the Sixth Judicial District in Duluth, Minnesota (St. Louis County, Minnesota; 2021)

List of first minority male lawyers and judges in Minnesota

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