[ST. PAUL, MN] – A merit selection panel announced today it is recommending three candidates for consideration to serve as the permanent chief administrative law judge upon the conclusion of Temporary Chief Judge Tim O’Malley’s term. 

The merit selection panel included leadership in the Governor’s office, Commissioner Tamar Gronvall, Chair Katie Sieben, Director Eric Taubel, Jay Hartman of Heacox Hartman, and Tom Mottaz of Mottaz & Sisk Injury Law.

Craig Gustafson: Craig Gustafson is the legal counsel division director for the Minnesota Judicial Branch, where he and his team advise justices, judges, and court staff on a wide variety of legal issues. He previously was the chief counsel for the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT). Gustafson also served as general counsel, chief unemployment law judge, and director of appeals and legal affairs for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). He began his legal career as an attorney for the Minnesota Legislature in the Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Gustafson’s past professional and community roles include serving as chair of the Transportation Research Board’s legal section, president of the National Association of Unemployment Insurance Appeals Professionals, and member of the West St. Paul Charter Commission. 

Kirsten Marshall: Kirsten Marshall serves as a workers’ compensation judge for the Court of Administrative Hearings. She previously represented injured workers, employers, and insurers in workers’ compensation proceedings, and people who were injured in motor vehicle crashes and construction accidents in civil litigation. Marshall’s community involvement includes mentoring women who have drug and alcohol abuse disorders through Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge and providing community and home assistance to people who have ALS and blindness through the ALS Association and Vision Resources for the Blind.

Jessica Palmer-Denig: Jessica Palmer-Denig is an assistant chief administrative law judge at the Court of Administrative Hearings. She previously worked as a trial attorney for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as an assistant attorney general in the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, and as an associate at the law firm of Dorsey & Whitney, LLP. Palmer-Denig also served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Mary Muehlen Maring of the North Dakota Supreme Court and the Honorable Donovan W. Frank of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Palmer-Denig’s community involvement includes serving as the president of the Ramsey County Bar Foundation and on the boards of the Ramsey County Bar Association and Ramsey County Law Library. She also co-chairs the bar association’s Youth Civics Initiative through which she develops and promotes youth civics educational programming.

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