Four candidates have been recommended to fill two judgeships in the Ninth Judicial District.
The vacancies will occur after the retirements of Judge Robert D. Tiffany and Judge Korey Wahwassuck. The seats will be chambered in Park Rapids and Grand Rapids.
Candidates are Bemidji assistant attorney Heather Labat, Clearwater County Attorney Kathryn Lorsbach, managing attorney Jordan Olsen and Kimberly Wimmer, executive vice president and general counsel of TruStar Federal Credit Union. The Commission on Judicial Selection recommends candidates to Gov. Tim Walz, who makes the final appointments.
Heather Labat
Heather Labat is an assistant attorney for the city of Bemidji. She has previous experience as a staff attorney with Legal Services of Northwest Minnesota and Anishinaabe Legal Services, an assistant county attorney in the Clearwater County Attorney’s Office, an assistant public defender in the Ninth Judicial District Public Defender’s Office, and a law clerk for the Honorable Lyonel F. Norris in Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District.
Labat is a member of the Beltrami County Drug Court and on the Bi-County Community Action Program’s board of directors. She has also served as a high school mock trial judge and a mentor in the Beltrami Area Service Collaborative's Students First program.
Kathryn Lorsbach
Kathryn Lorsbach is the Clearwater County Attorney and has previous experience as an assistant public defender in the Ninth Judicial District and a law clerk for Judge Jonathan N. Jasper in Minnesota’s Tenth Judicial District.
She is a member of the Clearwater County DUI Treatment Court, the Clearwater Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative and the Anishinaabe Sexual Assault Response Team.
Jordan Olsen
Jordan Olsen is a managing attorney in the Itasca and Koochiching county public defender’s offices. He was previously an assistant public defender in several other Ninth Judicial District counties and a law clerk for Judge Anne M. Rasmusson in the Ninth Judicial District.
Olsen is also a member of the Public Defender DNA/Forensics team.
Kimberly Wimmer
Kimberly Wimmer is the executive vice president and general counsel of TruStar Federal Credit Union. Her previous experience includes time as a solo practitioner and an assistant public defender for the state.
Wimmer is part of the Borderland Treatment Court Team, Friends Against Abuse and the Littlefork-Big Falls School Board. She also volunteers with various academic and athletic programs in local schools.
For more information about the judicial selection process, visit the Governor’s Judicial Appointments webpage.
