ST. PAUL, MN - The Commission on Judicial Selection announced today that it is recommending five candidates for consideration to fill two vacancies in Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District. One of the vacancies occurred upon the retirement of the Honorable Susan M. Robiner, and the other vacancy will occur upon the retirement of the Honorable Peter A. Cahill. These seats will be chambered in Minneapolis in Hennepin County.

Katie Allen: Katie Allen is a staff attorney and DNA consultant at the Neighborhood Justice Center, where she represents low-income community members facing criminal charges in Dakota, Ramsey, and Washington counties. She has also served as defense counsel for the Ramsey County Mental Health Court and Ramsey County Adult Substance Abuse Court. Allen’s community involvement includes providing pro bono legal services to the Saint Paul Opportunity Center and serving as a community organization member on the Ramsey County Bail Reform Working Group. She also volunteers with Osseo area schools and the city of Maple Grove.

Mariam Mokri: Mariam Mokri is a human services judge with the Department of Human Services. She previously was a district court referee in the Civil and Criminal Divisions of the Fourth Judicial District and an assistant public defender in the Fourth Judicial District’s Public Defender’s Office. Mokri’s community involvement has included service as the chair of the Minneapolis Commission on Civil Rights and a member of the Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers board of directors.

Jennifer Olson: Jennifer Olson is an assistant attorney general in the Employment, Torts, and Public Utilities Commission Division in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, where she defends complex constitutional, statutory, employment, and tort litigation on behalf of the State of Minnesota and state agencies. She was previously a partner at Best & Flanagan LLP, where she served as the firm’s pro bono partner, and an associate attorney at Stinson LLP. Olson’s community involvement includes serving on the Volunteer Lawyers Network Benefactors Board and the Minnesota Justice Foundation Board. She has also served in various leadership roles with the Hennepin County Bar Association and on the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Pro Bono Council. Olson has also volunteered as a pro bono attorney with the Advocates for Human Rights, representing clients seeking asylum.

Andrew Tweeten: Andrew Tweeten is an assistant United States attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, where he pursues affirmative health care fraud matters on behalf of the United States and defends a wide variety of civil claims against federal officers and agencies. He was previously an assistant attorney general in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and a law clerk for the Honorable Donald W. Molloy of the United States District Court for the District of Montana and the Honorable Sidney R. Thomas of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Tweeten’s community involvement includes singing and volunteering with One Voice Mixed Chorus. He also volunteers with the Minnesota Urban Debate League and judges college and high school mock trial and moot court competitions.

Matthew Wilcox: Matthew Wilcox is deputy general counsel for the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, where he manages a team of legal professionals and oversees the agency’s contracting and litigation portfolios. He also serves as an assistant staff judge advocate (Major) in the United States Air Force Reserve. Wilcox was previously an assistant city attorney for the City of Minneapolis and an assistant appellate defender in the Office of the Appellate Defender in Montana. His community involvement includes mentoring law students as part of the University of St. Thomas School of Law Mentor Externship Program. Wilcox is also a member of the American Legion and an Army veteran who deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

For more information about the judicial selection process, please visit the Governor’s Judicial Appointments webpage.