[ST. PAUL, MN] – The Commission on Judicial Selection announced today that it is recommending three candidates for consideration to fill the vacancy in Minnesota’s Second Judicial District. The vacancy occurred upon the death of the Honorable Patrick C. Diamond. This seat will be chambered in St. Paul in Ramsey County.

Victoria Elsmore: Victoria Elsmore is a district court referee in the family division of the Second Judicial District, presiding over dissolution, custody, support, domestic abuse, and harassment matters. She was previously a partner at Collins, Buckley, Sauntry & Haugh, PLLP, where she practiced family law. Elsmore’s community involvement includes serving as a trustee on the Board of Trustees for Mitchell Hamline School of Law, an adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, and the immediate past president of the Ramsey County Bar Association.

Erin Secord: Erin Secord is an assistant United States attorney and the coordinator of the Financial Litigation Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota. In this role, she handles the enforcement of restitution judgments, as well as a variety of civil matters, including torts, civil commitments, bankruptcy, foreclosures, and affirmative fraud cases. Secord was previously a litigation associate at Fredrikson & Byron, P.A. and a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Donovan W. Frank and the Honorable Steven E. Rau of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Her community involvement has included serving as a volunteer religious education teacher, cross-country ski coach, and Girl Scout troop leader.

Devona Wells: Devona Wells is an assistant county attorney in the Civil Division of the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, where she litigates complex civil cases and is general counsel to the county’s public health and housing stability departments. She was previously an attorney at Lockridge Grindal Nauen PLLP and a law clerk for the Honorable Natalie E. Hudson on the Minnesota Court of Appeals. Wells’s community involvement includes serving on the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure, as vice president of the Mississippi Market Co-op board of directors in St. Paul, and as a volunteer for the Reader/Writer Program.

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