At MJF’s 2024 Annual Awards Celebration, we will celebrate pro bono and public service in Minnesota’s legal community. Judge Sarah I. Wheelock will be our keynote speaker. We will recognize the winners of our six 2024 Outstanding Service Awards. Nominations for the awards may be submitted through July 31st at https://forms.gle/Ws1hQxNTQby5.

photo of Keynote Speaker Judge Sarah I. Wheelock — Judge Sarah I. Wheelock

The Honorable Sarah I. Wheelock is a judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals. She previously worked as legal counsel for the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community in Prior Lake, an Adjunct Professor at Mitchell Hamline College of Law, as an Appellate Judge for the White Earth Band of Chippewa Court of Appeals, and in private practice with law firms. Her experience includes litigation in tribal, federal, and state courts, as well as economic development and finance work. Judge Wheelock is a member of the Meskwaki Nation (federally recognized as the Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa) and is the first indigenous person to sit on the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

Judge Wheelock is a member and past Vice President of the Minnesota American Indian Bar Association, member of the National Native American Bar Association, and member of the Federal Bar Association. She previously served as a member of the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection. Her community involvement includes serving as a director on the board for the Division of Indian Work, a director on the board for Coffee House Press, an assistant director of Twin Cities Native Lacrosse, and as the past-chair of the American Indian Parent Advisory Committee for the Prior Lake-Savage Area School District. Judge Wheelock earned her B.A. with honors and distinction and J.D. with distinction from the University of Iowa.