FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 17, 2020
Contact: Teddy Tschann
teddy.tschann@state.mn.us
651-402-8841
Commission on Judicial Selection Recommends Fourth Judicial District Candidates to Governor Walz
[ST. PAUL, MN] – The Commission on Judicial Selection announced today it is recommending six candidates for consideration to fill three vacancies in Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District. These vacancies occurred upon the retirements of the Honorable Fred Karasov and the Honorable Ronald L. Abrams, and the appointment of the Honorable Theodora K. Gaïtas to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. All three vacancies will be chambered in Minneapolis in Hennepin County.
Julie Allyn: Ms. Allyn serves as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota. Previously, she served as an Assistant Hennepin County Attorney and an Assistant Attorney General at the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. Ms. Allyn is a trial lawyer with twenty years of experience prosecuting major felony crimes ranging from child exploitation, human trafficking, murder, and rape cases to international and domestic terrorism matters. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota Law School. Ms. Allyn’s community involvement includes serving as a mentor in the St. Thomas Law School Mentor Program, a member of the Federal Bar Association’s Membership Committee, Chair of the Wellness Committee for the U.S. Attorney’s Office and its representative on the U.S. District Court’s Wellness Committee, and a parent volunteer for Minneapolis Storm Hockey. She was previously involved with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Minneapolis.
Anna Andow: Ms. Andow is a Child Support Magistrate at the Family Law Justice Center in Minneapolis. In her role, Ms. Andow presides over child support matters in expedited court. Previously, Ms. Andow was a staff attorney for over a decade at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. In her role as a staff attorney, Ms. Andow regularly represented clients in court in a wide array of contested family law matters and advised many people in need from our state’s most diverse communities. Ms. Andow also worked extensively with a variety of public agencies, non-profit organizations, and other stakeholders in Minnesota to help serve the needs of the most underrepresented populations.
Theresa Couri: Ms. Couri serves as a Managing County Attorney at the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. Ms. Couri is responsible for managing the Adult Services (Mental Health) and Child Support Divisions, and the Community Engagement Unit. Previously, Ms. Couri served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and as a Litigation Associate at the Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donnelly law firm. She has also been an adjunct professor of Legal Writing at Mitchell Hamline College of Law. She began her career representing indigent clients in domestic violence cases at the Legal Assistance Foundation in Chicago. Her community involvement includes serving as a volunteer mentor for the Diversity Leadership Mentoring Program, a member of the Hennepin County Disparity Reduction Committee (Health Domain), a volunteer at Interfaith Outreach and Community Partners, and a Commissioner on her local Planning Commission.
Imani Jaafar: Ms. Jaafar is the Director of the Office of Police Conduct Review in the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights. Ms. Jaafar provides oversight for investigations into allegations of police misconduct and authors research and study reports focused on improving policing. She also serves as an adjunct professor of law at the University of Minnesota. Ms. Jaafar is a diversity trainer and consultant focused on teaching professionals how to disrupt bias when working with Muslim communities both locally and nationally. Previously, Ms. Jaafar served as a housing staff attorney at Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance, an Assistant Ramsey County Public Defender, a private attorney specializing in both Islamic estate planning and criminal defense, and a law clerk to the Honorable Lloyd Zimmerman in the Fourth Judicial District. Her community involvement includes serving as a board member and committee chair for Minnesota Landmarks and serving as a board member for Global Rights for Women.
Maximillia Utley: Ms. Utley is a Senior Assistant Hennepin County Attorney. In this role, she is a supervising attorney in the Juvenile Prosecution Division where she has been involved in several office initiatives to increase the use of juvenile diversion and reduce disparities in the justice system. Previously, Ms. Utley worked in every other criminal division in the office, litigating a wide range of felony-level offenses, and was a judicial clerk at the Minnesota Court of Appeals. Additionally, Ms. Utley will be an adjunct professor of Trial Practice this fall at the University of St. Thomas Law School. Her community involvement includes serving on the Eliminating Racial Disparities Committee of the Youth Justice Council, the Hennepin County Out-of-Home Placement Training Workgroup, and Mayor Frey’s Public Safety Policy Transformation Task Force, as well as volunteer work with several organizations including Clare Housing, the William E. McGee National Civil Rights Moot Court Competition, and Open Doors. She previously served as the president of the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers.
Terri Yellowhammer: Ms. Yellowhammer is the American Indian Community Relations Development Manager for Hennepin County. In this role, she guides the county on effective partnering with tribal communities in the twin cities and on reservations in Minnesota on a range of issues, including the overrepresentation of American Indian children in the child protection system. Previously, she represented indigent clients in adult and juvenile child protection cases at the Indian Child Welfare Law Center, was a White Earth Nation Tribal Court Judge, and was a Minnesota Assistant Attorney General. Her community involvement includes outreach for Proof Alliance, which helps treat and prevent Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. She is on the Board of Trustees for the National Crittenton Foundation, which advocates for improving systems of justice for girls and young women. She is a former board chair of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center and was a member of a cohort of volunteers who held babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome at Minneapolis Children’s Hospital.