WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Tina Smith (D-MN) announced that the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Laura Provinzino to serve as United States District Court Judge for the District of Minnesota. Currently serving as an Assistant United States Attorney with the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, Provinzino was one of the candidates sent to President Biden by Senators Klobuchar and Smith following the recommendation from a judicial selection committee.
“As a federal prosecutor, Laura Provinzino has dedicated her career to upholding the rule of law and her work has earned her the respect of attorneys and law enforcement across the state,” said Klobuchar. “I am confident that she will make an outstanding jurist, and I know she will make St. Cloud proud. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I worked to advance her nomination and I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their support of this outstanding nominee.”
“Laura Provinzino has spent her career in service to Minnesotans. Her decades of experience advancing justice and protecting the rule of law will make her an exceptionally well-qualified U.S. District Court Judge,” said Smith. “I congratulate her on her bipartisan confirmation.”
Laura Provinzino was born and raised in St. Cloud, and attended St. Cloud Technical High School. Her mother taught at Apollo High School, and her father was a lawyer in St. Cloud. Provinzino has spent her entire legal career in Minnesota.
She has served as an Assistant United States Attorney since 2010. As a prosecutor, she has led efforts to prosecute violent crime, human trafficking, child pornography, and crimes against Native American women. In 2023, Provinzino was awarded the Attorney General’s David Margolis Award for Exceptional Service for her work in prosecuting an international sex trafficking organization that victimized hundreds of women. This is the highest award given by the Justice Department to recognize employee achievement.
Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Provinzino worked as an associate at Robins Kaplan LLP. She earned her B.A., with honors, from Lewis and Clark College in 1998 and Oxford University, as a Rhodes Scholar, in 2000. She received her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2002. She also served as a law clerk to the Honorable Diana Murphy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit from 2003 to 2004.
Laura Provinzino was recommended by the Judicial Selection Committee, which was chaired by Lucinda Jesson, former judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and included Johnathan Judd, Judge on Minnesota’s Seventh Judicial Court; David Lillehaug, former Associate Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court and former U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota; Miguel Pozo, Member at Cozen O’Connor and former President of the Hispanic National Bar Association; Kristine Weeks, Judge on Minnesota’s Fifth Judicial Court and former assistant public defender; and X. Kevin Zhao, partner at Greene Espel PLLP.
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