His reverence for the legal system and inclination toward the positive make it no surprise that Judge Bruce Christopherson will welcome the state law that mandates he retire from his judgeship at age 70.
For his peers, welcoming the end of the judge’s tenure is a bit tougher.
For 42 years, Christopherson has served the legal system, and over the course of the last 24 he has done so as a District 8 judge. Here, spending the majority of his time presiding over Yellow Medicine, Chippewa, Renville and Lac qui Parle counties, he came to be held in the highest esteem, considered by many to be one of the state’s best judges.
Raised in Clarkfield by parents Hiram and Helen, Christopherson finished toward the top of his class at Clarkfield High School before going on to attend the University of Minnesota and the William Mitchell College of Law, where he received his law doctorate and graduated Cum Laude.
He received his law degree in 1967 and that same year he began working as a private practice attorney in Minneapolis, where he remained until presented with an opportunity to return to his hometown Heart of the Prairie in 1974.
Christopherson indicated that returning home was an easy choice. Offered the keys to an existing private practice, he said it was a no-brainer given his desire to serve longer-term clients with whom he could develop more than just a surface relationship.
For 12 years he represented individuals of the region, and although he would eventually opt for a chance to look down from the bench rather than argue up, Christopherson said that he thoroughly enjoyed his time as an attorney, particularly estate planning, where he helped to, “reconstitute the plans of a family for a successful future.”
Judge Christopherson
Talking with Christopherson it was evident that in all matters he addressed during his legal career he sought to facilitate circumstances that would bring about the greatest possible good. Being a judge simply provided a different avenue from which to bring about such circumstance.
“When you participate in the legal process it is somewhat natural to want to a part of the process from a different position, and maybe influence it,” he said.
Christopherson was given the opportunity to serve in the new capacity in 1986 when he was appointed to the bench by, then Minnesota governor, Rudy Perpich.
Perpich appointed Christopherson to fill the remainder of a term vacated as a result of the retirement of Judge Frederick Ostensoe. Thereafter, he was elected on four consecutive occasions to six year terms spanning from ‘88 to his retirement.
