Judge Lloyd B. Zimmerman took office on Jan. 8, 2001, as Hennepin County’s newest district court judge, fulfilling a lifelong dream. He believes the highest possible calling for a lawyer is to serve the public as a judge. He promises to exercise his authority in a fair and reasonable way and says that he will "use his 22 years of experience helping disadvantaged people to try to provide justice for all people."

Judge Zimmerman began the pursuit of his dream in Evanston, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. One could say he was "born to sit on the bench"; his father served over 30 years as a state court judge in Cook County, Ill. Judge Zimmerman regrets only that his father was unable to see him sworn in, having passed away recently at age 82. In high school, Judge Zimmerman took up two activities that he would pursue at various points in his life: running and journalism. After high school, Judge Zimmerman initially stayed close to home, attending college at the University of Illinois - Chicago.

He kept busy, running on the cross country and track teams and serving as editor of the school paper, all while working a variety of jobs to pay for tuition and living expenses. He also had the unique distinction of being the first student elected to the Board of Trustees for the University of Illinois System. He recalls that his college roommates found it amusing when, as a 19-year-old, he would receive mail addressed to the "Honorable Lloyd Zimmerman." Judge Zimmerman somehow balanced his work, his studies, and his diverse extracurricular activities, graduating as valedictorian of his class in 1975 after only three years.

Judge Zimmerman faced a difficult choice after completing his undergraduate degree. He was accepted both to law school and to journalism school. In deciding between the two, he examined one of his overarching goals in life: to make a difference in people’s lives. He determined that he wanted to have an immediate impact on a person-by-person basis and decided that a career in law was the more effective way to do so. He traveled east to New York University Law School, where he received the full tuition Root-Tilden Scholarship, awarded to law students with a demonstrated desire to serve the public interest.

Continuing to demonstrate this desire during law school, Judge Zimmerman worked in a variety of positions serving the public. He assisted the U. S. Attorney’s office in a special prosecution of a congressman who was taking bribes. He also worked for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the ACLU, and the Harvard Center for Law and Education. He provided legal assistance to indigent clients through an NYU criminal law clinic and the Correctional Association of New York’s legal aid clinic.

Perhaps most importantly, law school was where he met his future wife, Becky Palmer, who was his moot court opponent. He believes her initial attraction to him may have stemmed from the fact that he would actually tip her off to helpful cases, while other, more competitive students would cut cases out of the reporters with razor blades to sabotage their peers’ efforts. When asked to identify the most valuable thing he took from law school (excepting his wife-to-be), Judge Zimmerman responded simply but eloquently, "the tools to help people."

Judge Zimmerman first put these tools into action here in Minnesota. After graduating in 1978, a Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship brought him to the Mille Lacs Reservation. While there from 1978 to 1979, he started a legal aid clinic, which served not only Native Americans, but also the elderly poor in the surrounding area. He also taught at the Ne-ya-shing School, an alternative school on the reservation. Due to natural cultural differences, the residents of the reservation were initially hesitant to take their legal problems to him. His clinic was open a month before he saw his first client with a real legal problem. Instead, the elders would stop by to check him out and "chew the fat." In order to get legal information out to the people, he started writing a legal advice column in the reservation paper, writing both the questions and the answers. He called the column "Dear Debagawanini," a very rough translation of "Dear Lawyer" in the Ojibwe language, which has no real concept of lawyers. His time working with people on the reservation taught Judge Zimmerman a number of principles that he continues to live by. He learned to listen and to realize that he does not have all the solutions to every problem. He also learned that there is no such thing as a "minor legal problem"; even simple matters can have a life-changing effect on the people involved. He gives the example of a gentleman he helped with a name change from "John Smith" to his Native American name. The simple act of changing his name had a profound impact on the man’s life.

After his time as a Smith Fellow was up in 1979, Judge Zimmerman moved to the role he would serve until taking the bench and the role for which he is best known: trial attorney (eventually senior trial attorney) for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. His practice eventually evolved toward large class actions, including the landmark Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) pattern case, Glass v. IDS Financial Services. Glass was the largest age discrimination settlement at the time: over $35 million for the class and four years of injunctive relief.

As a trial attorney with the EEOC, Judge Zimmerman earned the admiration and respect of those who practiced both with him and against him. Plaintiff’s attorney Susan E. Stokes of Sprenger & Lang states that: Lloyd is highly thought of by both the plaintiff and defense bar. I know from my involvement in the National Employment Lawyer’s Association that Lloyd is well known and respected by plaintiffs’ attorneys. Defense lawyers also respect Lloyd. One of the reasons Lloyd is so well respected by attorneys on both sides is because he treats everyone with great professionalism and decency. As a judge, he will be courteous of all litigants in his courtroom and hold them to the high standards of professionalism he maintains.

Defense attorney Robert R. Reinhart of Dorsey & Whitney echoes that sentiment: I am convinced Lloyd will bring to the bench sharp command of the rules of evidence, appreciation for litigation strategies, recognition of the boundaries of proper advocacy, and conscientious, energetic commitment to scholarship. He is consistently dedicated to thorough preparation, so I expect he will bring the same commitment to judicial duties. But most importantly, from my perspective, Lloyd will bring to his service as a judge a remarkable graciousness, sensitivity to people as individuals, and real humility that distinguish him from others more than any other traits.

Throughout his career with the EEOC, Judge Zimmerman always remained "in the trenches" as a trial attorney, still spending portions of his time in recent years in warehouses poring over documents. His work as a trial attorney has taught him a number of things he plans to put into practice now that he has donned the robe. The employment cases he tried were always "full of emotions" and he tried to be the calm voice in the fray, not adding to the chaos. His diverse cases also required him to master many different areas of knowledge, even if he mastered them only for weeks or months at a time. He believes these skills will serve him well on the bench.

When not in the courtroom, Judge Zimmerman hopes to continue his present avocations, many of which revolve around his family. His wife is a former trial lawyer and partner with Maslon, Edelman, Borman and Brand, who now remains active as board chair of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota/South Dakota. Judge Zimmerman spends part of his free time watching the activities of his children. Sixteen-year-old Cole plays hockey and runs track and cross country, while12-year-old Chelsea skates and plays soccer and basketball. Judge Zimmerman continues to run daily and runs a marathon each year. He also learned to play the guitar three years ago. He says that his most rewarding activity, however, is the time he and his son have spent visiting Alzheimer’s patients in a nursing home every Saturday for the last four years.