U.S. Senate confirms St. Olaf alumnus as federal judge
The United States Senate has confirmed St. Olaf College alumnus Eric Tostrud ’87 to serve as a district judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota.
The Senate approved Tostrud’s nomination via a unanimous voice vote, the Star Tribune story notes, and he will be sworn in after President Donald Trump signs a presidential commission.
Tostrud, who earned his J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law, has been a private attorney at the Lockridge Grindal Nauen law firm in Minneapolis for the past 26 years. He has maintained a complex commercial litigation practice, with emphasis in the areas of complex insurance coverage, health care law and litigation, and Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) practice and procedure.
Tostrud has also served on the full-time faculty at Mitchell Hamline School of Law as Distinguished Practitioner in Residence. He has taught many law school courses, including Federal Jurisdiction, Federal Civil Procedure, Advanced Federal Civil Procedure, and Electronic Discovery.
Along with fellow nominee Judge Nancy Brasel, Tostrud will replace Judges Ann Montgomery and Donovan Frank, who were appointed by Bill Clinton in 1995 and 1998, respectively.