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Susan
M. Robiner
Originally published in
the
July 2007 issue.
Author: Marlene Garvis
Susan M. Robiner realized her dream of becoming a
judge on July 17, 2006. It was on this date that Gov. Tim
Pawlenty announced her appointment to the Hennepin County
District Court bench. In so doing, he remarked that “Susan has
a reputation as a smart and successful attorney in a complex
area of law who has risen to leadership positions within her law
firm” and that “she also has a demonstrated commitment to public
service and will bring her empathy for others with her to the
bench.”
Judge Robiner is a lifelong resident of
Minnesota, the youngest of six and an identical twin. After
high school, she left Minneapolis for Northfield, Minn. and four
years later graduated
magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Carleton College in
1981. She left the state to attend law school at Georgetown
University where she received her juris doctor degree in 1985.
While a law student, Judge Robiner was an Articles and Notes
Editor of the
American Criminal Law Review.
After law school graduation, Judge Robiner
returned to Minnesota and joined Leonard, Street and Deinard,
first as associate from 1985 to 1993, and then as a shareholder
from 1993 to 2000 and from 2001 until her appointment to the
bench in 2006. During 2000-2001, she was a partner at the
Sprenger and Lang law firm in Minneapolis.
During her 20-plus years at Leonard, Street and
Deinard, she gained a wealth of experience as a trial lawyer.
Immediately prior to her appointment, she was chair of the
firm’s Intellectual Property and Information Technology
Department, with her practice focusing on the highly technical
practice areas of copyright, trademark, and trade secret
litigation. She also served as the Litigation Division’s
professional development chair, responsible for designing and
implementing the division’s attorney training program.
Her litigation practice also included employment
law and counseling, where she handled multiple discrimination
and harassment cases as well as counseled clients on all aspects
of employee relations.
As a lawyer and now as a judge, Judge Robiner has
been an active member of the bar as a member of the Minnesota
Supreme Court Advisory Committee for the Rules of Civil
Procedure; Hennepin County Bar Association Speakers Bureau;
Minnesota State Bar Association Labor and Employment section;
Minnesota Women Lawyers student and attorney mentoring
committees; Minnesota Justice Foundation; American Bar
Association Intellectual Property and Labor and Employment
sections; and the American Intellectual Property Law
Association. She has also been an adjunct professor with the
University of St. Thomas School of Law, and has served as a
faculty member for many programs of the National Institute for
Trial Advocacy.
As an involved community member, Judge Robiner
volunteers at the Minneapolis Jewish Day School and at Mount
Zion Temple. She also teaches skiing for the Blizzard Ski and
Snowboard School as a PSIA Level 3 ski instructor (the highest
certification level in the Professional Ski Instructors
Association). Every Saturday from November through February,
she teaches children from 6 years to 16 years old.
Interestingly, Judge Robiner is a second-generation instructor
for Blizzard, as her father took her and her five siblings on
the same ski trips when they were growing up. She is passing on
this tradition by teaching for Blizzard and bringing along her
children. Judge Robiner refers to her teaching as “a bit like
Little League without the parents on the sidelines….”
Now, almost a year into her new role, she remains
delighted with her new career: “I have a palpable sense of
serving my community every day, and I am proud to be a member of
a bench that is strong and self-critical, and that always asks
the tough questions—what are we doing wrong, what are we doing
right, and how can we improve.”
Judge Robiner is married to William Robiner, and
has three children, Eli, 15 years; Sonia, 13 years; and Noah, 10
years old. Her family enjoys an assortment of team sports,
summer vacations, beginner golf, hardcore skiing, and, because
of her husband’s New York roots, Broadway shows on Broadway
itself and other Big Apple pleasures.
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