The Honorable Judge LaJune Thomas Lange ’78 (ret.) is the Distinguished Alumni Fellow at the University of Minnesota Law School’s Human Rights Center. Judge Lange is a retired State of Minnesota trial court judge, a senior fellow with the Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice at the University of Minnesota, and president of the International Leadership Institute (ILI). She is widely recognized for her expertise in constitutional law, civil rights, and international human rights, and for her work advancing the rule of law and access to justice both in the United States and globally.
Judge Lange began her legal career as a trial lawyer in the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office before being appointed to the Hennepin County Municipal Court in 1985. Following the merger of the municipal and district courts, she served as a district court judge from 1986 until her retirement. On the bench, she presided over complex criminal and civil cases and became a leading voice in addressing racial and gender bias in the judicial system. She served as co-vice chair of the Minnesota Supreme Court Task Force on Racial Bias in the Courts, chaired the Juvenile Court Subcommittee of the Gender Fairness Task Force, and helped lead statewide initiatives to strengthen fairness and equity in judicial processes.
A founding member of the Minnesota Minority Lawyers Association and Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers, Judge Lange has also held leadership roles with Minnesota Women Lawyers, the Minnesota State Bar Association Board of Governors, the National Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the National Association of Women Judges. She has been a longtime educator, serving as adjunct professor of civil rights and human rights at William Mitchell College of Law and as faculty for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.
Through her work with the International Leadership Institute, Judge Lange has provided technical assistance and leadership development in over a dozen countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, South Africa, Brazil, Morocco, Jamaica, and Rwanda. Her projects have included legal reform, judicial training, anti-trafficking initiatives, transitional justice, women’s rights, and electoral integrity. She has served as an international expert for the U.S. State Department, an advisor to the African Union Ambassador to the United States, and a consultant to the United Nations Development Programme in Nigeria.
Judge Lange earned her B.A. in psychology from Augsburg College and her J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School. She also completed advanced judicial training at the National Judicial College and the Harvard Law School Judicial Scholars Program. She is admitted to practice before the Minnesota Supreme Court, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.