[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. These vacancies occurred upon the resignation of the Honorable Nicole A. Engisch and retirement of the Honorable M. Jacqueline Regis. These seats will be chambered in Minneapolis in Hennepin County.

Dean Eyler: Dean Eyler is a partner at Lathrop GPM, where his practice focuses on litigating complex commercial and intellectual property disputes. He also is the firm’s pro bono partner and chair of the Trademark Law Committee. He was previously a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Donald P. Lay on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and an associate attorney at Dorsey & Whitney. His community involvement includes serving on the boards of the Advocates for Human Rights and Minnesota Urban Debate League. Eyler also volunteers with the Volunteer Lawyers Network and provides pro bono representation to parties seeking asylum before the asylum office and immigration court. He helped create a fellows program for high-school debaters and is a former Edina High School debate coach.

Matthew Frank: Matthew Frank is the managing attorney of the Criminal Division at the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General, where he supervises a team of attorneys who handle criminal prosecutions, criminal appeals, civil commitments, civil matters regarding the predatory offender registration statute, and community notification risk level appeals. He previously worked as an assistant county attorney in the Wright County Attorney’s Office, an assistant public defender in the Tenth Judicial District Public Defender’s Office, an attorney in the Taylor Law Firm, and a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Allen Oleisky of the Fourth Judicial District. Frank’s community involvement includes serving on the Minnesota Supreme Court Advisory Committees on the Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Special Rules of Procedure Governing Proceedings Under the Minnesota Commitment and Treatment Acts, the Minnesota County Attorneys Association Appellate Committee, and the Minnesota Child Mortality Review Panel. He also has volunteered as a brief and oral argument judge for the William E. McGee National Civil Rights Moot Court Competition.

Sarah Hudleston: Sarah Hudleston is an assistant United States attorney in the Violent and Major Crimes 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.

Mariam Mokri: Mariam Mokri is a district court referee in the Civil and Criminal Divisions of the Fourth Judicial District, presiding over housing, harassment, and petty misdemeanor cases. She previously worked as a human services judge at the Minnesota Department of Human Services and as an assistant public defender in the Fourth Judicial District 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 for Criminal Defense Lawyers board of directors.

Sarah Walter: Sarah Walter is an assistant county attorney in the Adult Services Division of the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. She has also handled child protection cases, primarily cases that are subject to the Indian Child Welfare Act.?Walter was previously an assistant public defender in the Fourth Judicial District Public Defender’s Office. She is an adjunct professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, where she teaches trial advocacy. Walter’s community involvement includes volunteering with Loaves and Fishes of Minneapolis.