State Bar Association of North Dakota

Hovland sworn in as U.S. District Judge

When the long-awaited call from the White House came on Tuesday afternoon, November 26, the federal courthouses in Fargo and Bismarck swung into action. By 4:30 PM, Bismarck attorney Dan Hovland had become North Dakota's newest United States District Judge. North Dakota has technically not had an active district judge on the federal bench since last January, when U.S. District Judge Rodney Webb took senior status, so Judge Hovland was sworn in as Chief Judge of the District. Technology was much in evidence as Judge Webb, sitting on the bench in the Quentin Burdick Courthouse in Fargo, administered the oath on interactive television to Mr. Hovland, who repeated the words in the William Guy Federal Courthouse in Bismarck.

There was a celebratory atmosphere in both courthouses when word came that a White House staffer had contacted Dan Hovland to inform him that President Bush had signed his judicial commission. U.S. District Judge Patrick Conmy took senior judge status three years ago, but he has maintained a full judicial caseload ever since - while anxiously awaiting the day when his replacement would be nominated by the President, confirmed by the Senate and sworn in. That day came yesterday. Within hours of the White House call, Judge Webb, who was joined on the bench in Fargo by Dan Hovland's father, Lyndon Hovland, read the oath, while Dan Hovland, in the presence of his wife Kristin and their children, repeated the words in the Bismarck courthouse. Court reporter Douglas Ketchum recorded the proceedings in Fargo while Court Clerk Edward Klecker staffed the brief ceremony in Bismarck. Mr. Klecker said that a formal public investiture to which members of the bar association and the public will be invited, will be planned to take place in January at the federal courthouse in Bismarck.

Judge Hovland graduated from UND Law School in 1979 and clerked for the Norh Dakota Supreme Court before going into private practice in Bismarck. He was a partner in the Smith Bakke Hovland & Oppegard firm, where he specialized in litigation and had an active mediation and arbitration practice. He serves on the Joint ADR Committee. Judge Hovland said his new job on the bench has already begun--he is scheduled to preside at a trial on Monday.

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