Judge Nicole Starr (’03) to Receive Ramsey County Bar Association Diversity Award

The Ramsey County Bar Association has named Judge Nicole Starr (’03) the recipient of its 2017 Excellence in Diversity Award.

Starr, a judge on Minnesota’s 2nd Judicial District bench since 2015, has been actively involved in human rights, diversity, and inclusion issues at local, national, and international levels for many years. Locally, she has organized tours of law offices for students of color. She served as vice chair of the St. Paul Human Rights Commission from 2005 to 2010 and has been a legal consultant for the Indian Child Welfare Center.

Starr served as president of the Minnesota Asian Pacific American Bar Association in 2009 and on the Minnesota State Bar Association Assembly from 2005 to 2008. She was a volunteer with the Lambda Legal Defense Fund from 2001 to 2011. She also was a member of the Twin Cities-based PFund Racial Equity Initiative Leadership Program.

In addition to her service to the local community, Starr has made an impact on national and international human rights. In 2013, she was a legislative fellow with Partners of the Americas in Haiti. In 2010, through Rotary International, she participated in a group study exchange in India in which she examined the Indian legal system and presented to professionals throughout the southwestern part of the country. In the early 2000s, she served as a judicial law clerk in the Constitutional Court of South Africa and worked for the country’s Institute for Democracy as well.

The award will be presented May 16 at the Ramsey County Courthouse in downtown St. Paul.