Chief ALJ Appoints Experienced Judge to Fill Vacancy
SAINT PAUL, MN – Chief Administrative Law Judge Raymond R. Krause announced that he has appointed the Honorable James E. LaFave as an Administrative Law Judge for the Office of Administrative Hearings. Judge LaFave’s appointment is effective Wednesday, July 18, 2012.
LaFave received his Bachelors of Arts from Creighton University in 1979 and his Juris Doctorate from William Mitchell College of Law in 1983. From 1983 to 1986, LaFave practiced law as an associate with Amudson and Campbell in the areas of civil and appellate litigation, complex commercial transactions and mediation. From 1985 to the present, LaFave has served as General Counsel for ALC Financial Corporation in Oakdale, Minnesota. During this time, LaFave also taught Commercial Law as an adjunct professor at Hamline University School of Law.
Between 2005 and 2012, LaFave was a part-time, contract administrative law judge for the Office of Administrative Hearings.
Remarked Chief Judge Krause: “Following Governor Dayton’s recent appointment of two of our most experienced judges to other posts in state government, we are fortunate to have a highly-skilled part-time judge willing to make a full-time commitment to public service. Judge LaFave’s seven years of judicial experience has thoroughly prepared him to step into this larger role and to immediately fill the gap in our docket left by the two departing judges.”
The Office of Administrative Hearings is an Executive Branch agency charged with conducting due process hearings for state agencies and local units of government. The OAH has seven full-time Administrative Law Judges and 25 Workers’ Compensation Judges .
The OAH received 67 applications for the first of its two judicial vacancies. It received an additional 87 applications for the second of the two vacancies.