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The Commission on Judicial Selection is recommending candidates to fill a vacancy in Minnesota’s Ninth Judicial District upon the retirement of Judge Robert D. Tiffany. This seat will be chambered in Park Rapids in Hubbard County.

Heather Labat is an assistant city attorney for Bemidji, where she prosecutes misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor cases. She was previously 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 Lyonel F. Norris in Minnesota’s Fourth Judicial District.

Contributed/Office of Minnesota Governor

Labat’s community involvement includes serving as a member of the Beltrami County Drug Court and on the board of directors for BI-CAP, which helps low-income people in Beltrami and Cass counties. She has also served as a high school mock trial judge and mentor in the Students First program with the Beltrami Area Service Collaborative.

Kathryn Lorsbach is the Clearwater County Attorney, where she handles a broad range of criminal and civil matters. She was previously an assistant public defender in the Ninth Judicial District and a law clerk for Jonathan Jasper in Minnesota’s Tenth Judicial District.

Contributed/Office of Minnesota Governor

Lorsbach’s community involvement includes serving on the Clearwater County DUI treatment court, the Clearwater Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative and the Anishinaabe sexual assault response team.