# Harriet Lansing *American lawyer and former judge on the Ramsey County Municipal Court and the Minnesota Court of Appeals* Harriet Lansing (born May 19, 1945) is an American lawyer and retired judge. She sat on the Ramsey County Municipal Court from 1978 to 1983 and on the [[Minnesota Court of Appeals]] from 1983 to 2011. Governor [[Rudy Perpich]] appointed her to both courts.[^1] After leaving the bench she held national and international law-reform posts. These included the presidency of the Uniform Law Commission from 2013 to 2015 and membership in the United States delegation to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law from 2015 to 2018.[^1] The Minnesota State Law Library and Ballotpedia each maintain a reference page on her.[^2][^3] ## Early life and education Lansing grew up in rural Wisconsin, where she was taught in a one-room country schoolhouse.[^1] Macalester College awarded her a bachelor's degree in political science in 1967.[^1] She then completed a J.D. at the [[University of Minnesota Law School]] in 1970. Her class there included ten women, one of whom was Lansing.[^1] ## Career Her legal career began in 1972 at the St. Paul City Attorney's Office.[^1] In 1973 she founded Lansing, Oakes and Caperton, which the Wikipedia account calls the first women's law firm. [[Rosalie E. Wahl]] and other members of Minnesota Women Lawyers referred clients to the firm.[^1] In 1976 St. Paul named her City Attorney, and the same account records her as the first woman to hold that office in the city. It also states that eight cities had women city attorneys at the time.[^1] In 1978 Perpich, as [[Minnesota]]'s [[governor]], placed her on the Ramsey County Municipal Court. According to the Wikipedia account, she was the first woman on that court and the only one during her five years there.[^1] The Court of Appeals was created in 1983, and Perpich named her to its original bench of six judges, two of whom were women.[^1] Over 28 years on that court she was returned to office in five elections and authored upward of 2,000 opinions. She retired in 2011.[^1] ## Impact on the law In 1972 Lansing was among the founders of Minnesota Women Lawyers. The organization gave her its Myra Bradwell award in 2003.[^1] She served as vice chair of the Gender Fairness Task Force, which Justice Wahl chaired. She also helped create the Family Law Mediation Program and later chaired it.[^1] According to the Wikipedia account, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed an opinion Lansing wrote in the 1993 case *Growe et al. v. Emison et al.* The account describes the holding as finding that the federal courts had improperly enjoined the state court's redistricting plan.[^1] She has held adjunct teaching posts at William Mitchell College of Law and Hamline University Law School. She has also taught at New York University's Appellate Judges Institute.[^1] In addition, she chaired the Board of Visitors of the University of Minnesota Law School.[^1] Lansing became a member of the Uniform Law Commission in 1993. She chaired its Executive Committee from 2011 to 2013 and was the Commission's President from 2013 to 2015.[^1] The European Law Institute named her a Fellow in 2015. That year she delivered the keynote address at the Institute's Annual Conference and General Assembly in Vienna, Austria. She gave the Institute's keynote again in 2018, at its annual meeting in Riga, Latvia.[^1] Between 2015 and 2018 she served on the United States delegation to the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on Enforcement of International Commercial Settlement Agreements.[^1] ## In the Minnesota record ### Who - Harriet Lansing was born May 19, 1945. She is an American lawyer and former judge.[^1] - She is married to Allan Klein, a retired attorney and administrative law judge.[^1] ### What - Judge, Ramsey County Municipal Court, 1978–1983.[^1] - Judge, Minnesota Court of Appeals, 1983–2011.[^1] - Member of the Uniform Law Commission from 1993; Executive Committee chair, 2011–2013; President, 2013–2015.[^1] ### When - Undergraduate degree, Macalester College, 1967; J.D., University of Minnesota Law School, 1970.[^1] - St. Paul City Attorney's Office, 1972; founded a law firm, 1973; appointed St. Paul City Attorney, 1976.[^1] - Appointed to the Ramsey County Municipal Court, 1978; appointed to the Court of Appeals, 1983; retired, 2011.[^1] ### Where - Born in rural Wisconsin; practiced and served in St. Paul and Ramsey County; served on the statewide Minnesota Court of Appeals.[^1] ### How - Appointed to both courts by Governor Rudy Perpich; retained on the Court of Appeals through five elections.[^1] ### How many - More than 2,000 opinions written on the Court of Appeals.[^1] - One of six original judges of the Court of Appeals, two of whom were women.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *Harriet Lansing* (revision 1334349836, retrieved 2026-10-26) — biographical, judicial, teaching and law-reform service details reported in this article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Lansing [^2]: Minnesota State Law Library, *Harriet Lansing Biography* (undated) — the Library maintains a biographical reference page on Lansing. https://mncourts.libguides.com/lansing [^3]: Ballotpedia, *Harriet Lansing* (undated) — Ballotpedia maintains a reference page on Lansing. https://ballotpedia.org/Harriet_Lansing