News Item
Timothy Droske Named Supreme Court Commissioner

Posted: Wednesday, October 20, 2021

The Minnesota Supreme Court has appointed Timothy J. Droske to succeed Supreme Court Commissioner Rita Coyle DeMeules, who will retire on January 4, 2022. Droske will join the Court on December 6, 2021 and assume his role as Commissioner on January 5, 2022.

The Supreme Court Commissioner serves as chief counsel to the Minnesota Supreme Court. The Commissioner provides legal research, advice, and recommended dispositions in a wide variety of civil and criminal legal cases that come before the court, and supervises a staff of senior level attorneys.

Droske has served as Co-Chair of the Appellate Practice Group at the law firm of Dorsey & Whitney, LLP in Minneapolis since 2016, where he has represented clients on appeals and collaborated with attorneys on all aspects of appellate strategy, litigation, and procedure in the Minnesota Supreme Court, Minnesota Court of Appeals, U.S. Supreme Court, and federal courts of appeal throughout the country. Droske’s appellate experience extends to broad areas of law, including constitutional law, jurisdictional issues, contracts, torts, agency actions, criminal law, Native American law, class actions, and housing law. Droske has worked at Dorsey & Whitney since 2008. 

Droske served as law clerk to the Hon. Joel M. Flaum, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, from 2007 to 2008. He has also taught appellate advocacy as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Minnesota Law School since 2018 and has recently served on the Board of Directors for the Eighth Circuit Bar Association. He served as the chair of the Minnesota State Bar Association Appellate Practice Section from 2019-2020 after serving as a council member of that section since 2012, and served as the course chair and faculty member for the Minnesota CLE Appellate Practice Institute. Droske served on the Minnesota Supreme Court Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure from 2014-2019.

Droske received his law degree from Northwestern School of Law in Chicago, Ill, and his undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota, Morris.

Coyle DeMeules has served as the Supreme Court Commissioner since January 2012. During her tenure, she has been essential in managing and innovating the work of the Court, guiding efforts to leverage technology to ensure the effective administration of justice and support openness and accessibility of its public proceedings. Coyle DeMeules’ inclusive leadership and commitment to fairness, impartiality, and equal treatment has made a lasting and significant contribution to the Supreme Court and helped ensure public confidence in the appellate process.

Prior to her service as Supreme Court Commissioner, Coyle DeMeules served as an Assistant Attorney General. Before joining the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General, she was a partner and associate at the law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, LLP, and served as an Adjunct Professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul.