FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 5, 2022
Claire Lancaster
claire.lancaster@state.mn.us
651-219-2975
Commission on Judicial Selection Recommends Fourth Judicial District Candidates to Governor Walz
[ST. PAUL, MN] – The Commission on Judicial Selection announced today that it is recommending four candidates for consideration to fill two vacancies in Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District. The vacancies will occur upon the retirements of the Honorable Philip C. Carruthers and the Honorable Kathryn L. Quaintance. Both seats will be chambered in Minneapolis in Hennepin County.
Jean Burdorf: Jean Burdorf is the managing attorney of the Special Litigation Division at the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, where she handles criminal appeals, complex financial crimes, and municipal misdemeanor prosecutions. She has also handled a wide range of civil and criminal matters for the office, including mental health, child protection, white-collar crime, and litigation defense for county departments. Burdorf is an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, where she teaches evidence, trial advocacy, and legal writing. Her community involvement includes serving as a member of the Rules of Evidence Advisory Committee, a mock trial judge for the National Hispanic Bar Association, and a youth sports coach through the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.
Sarah Hudleston: Sarah Hudleston is an assistant United States attorney in the Violent Crime section at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota. In this role, she prosecutes a range of felonies, including child exploitation, bank fraud, kidnapping, armed robbery, firearms, narcotics, and government program fraud offenses. Hudleston was previously a law clerk to the Honorable Ann D. Montgomery and an attorney at Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson. Her community involvement includes serving as a volunteer for the U.S. District Court’s Open Doors program, a mentor for students in the University of St. Thomas School of Law Mentor Externship Program, a volunteer with the Innocence Project, and a former board member of the Volunteer Lawyers Network. Hudleston is a two-time recipient of Tubman’s Attorney of the Year Award for her pro bono representation of domestic violence victims and indigent family law clients.
John Lucas: John Lucas is a solo practitioner and assistant public defender in the Fourth Judicial District Public Defender’s Office in Hennepin County. He is a certified criminal law specialist through the Minnesota State Bar Association, and he has over three decades of criminal defense experience. Lucas is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the Hennepin County Bar Association. He is a frequent lecturer on criminal justice topics at local high schools and has given many continuing legal education (CLE) presentations on a variety of criminal law matters.
Jill Prohofsky: Jill Prohofsky is the Chief Child Support Magistrate for the State of Minnesota, where she oversees the judicial officers in the IV-D child support program. She previously served as a child support magistrate in the Fourth and Tenth Judicial Districts and an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Prohofsky’s community involvement includes serving on the Supreme Court’s Gender Fairness Implementation Committee and Committee for Equality and Justice. She is a member of the Hennepin County Bar Association, the Minnesota State Bar Association, and Minnesota Women Lawyers. Prohofsky also serves on the boards of Hopkins Youth Hockey Association, Hopkins Ultimate Recreation Team, and the International Spanish Language Academy.
For more information about the judicial selection process, please visit the Governor’s Judicial Appointments webpage.
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