James T. Swenson

Click here to see video of the candidate.

Born: March 24, 1950; Minneapolis

Education:

• University of Minnesota Law School, J.D., 1976
• University of Minnesota, B.A., 1972

• Minnesota 4th Judicial District, judge, 1995-present
• Mackall, Crounse & Moore, attorney, 1976-95

• Hennepin County Bar Association
• Minnesota District Judges Association
• Minnesota State Bar Association

Hobbies/Interests: Gardening, golf, tennis, Minnesota Golden Gophers basketball, painting

Family: Wife, Anne; two children, two grandchildren

Why did you opt to become a judge?
I was a trial lawyer for about 20 years. During the last five years of my practice, I had the opportunity to sit as an arbitrator on 50-plus cases and found that I enjoyed being on the other side of the bench. A number of lawyers who appeared in front of me were highly complimentary of the manner in which I ran the arbitration courtroom, along with the quality of my decisions, so I decided that becoming a judge might be a good fit.

Why should voters select you rather than your opponent?
The people who know me best as a judge are my 61 judicial colleagues on the 4th Judicial District bench (Hennepin County). Recently they asked me to run for chief judge, and I was elected without opposition. These are very difficult economic times for the state of Minnesota, including the judicial branch. It should speak volumes to the voters to know that the rest of the Hennepin County judges asked me to lead them during the tough years ahead.

What have been some of your accomplishments during your time on the bench?
After a little over a year handling criminal and civil cases, I volunteered for family court, which some view as the toughest job on the bench. I stayed there over 11 years and was the presiding judge under two different chief judges. During my tenure we developed the aggressive case management and early neutral evaluation programs that have become the model for Minnesota and are being replicated in other states, as well as Canada. For those accomplishments I was awarded the Anne V. Simonett Award as the Employee of the Year in the 4th Judicial District in 2005, the Minnesota District Judges Association Judge of the Year in 2006, and the Paul H. Chapman Award from the Foundation for Improvement of Justice in Atlanta in 2007.

What are the major issues facing the court on which you sit?
Our mission is to provide equal access to justice and timely and effective resolution of disputes. In this very tough budget era, we need to secure adequate and predictable funding to enable us to fulfill that mission. A large share of my day is spent on this task. The courts also need to develop new programs and new responses to reduce recidivism (repeat offenders). Our new DWI court is a prime example of a court response that is reducing recidivism. We also must be ever mindful of the expensive nature of legal proceedings and work to reduce the cost to our citizens.

How can these issues realistically be addressed?
When judges roll up their sleeves and work with our justice partners, we can meet these objectives. For example, the financial early neutral evaluation program in family court, which was developed with the bar, allows us to settle over 70 percent of the cases referred to that program in 90 days or less, at a cost of less than $800 per case for the evaluator.

What role, if any, should politics play in judicial campaigns? (for example, party endorsements, discussions of political views, etc...)
In my view, none.

What else would you like voters to know about your candidacy?
In addition to my work as chief judge of the 4th Judicial District, I am deeply involved in issues of statewide importance to the judicial branch and the citizens of Minnesota. I am the only judge, at any level, involved in both working groups that analyze the courts’ increasing workload in order to determine how many judges we need across the state, along with the number of staff to support each judge. I am also a voting member of the Judicial Council, the organization that runs the entire judicial branch.