Minnesota Judicial Branch Logo
NOTICE: The Minnesota Judicial Branch website will move to a new content management system on Tuesday, July 1. You may need to update any bookmarked pages after this date.
Judge Christian M. Sande

Hennepin County Courthouse
Fourth Judicial District
(612) 348-6000

Email
Chambers Phone: (612) 322-6594

Fourth Judicial District Judicial Officers

Judge Christian M. Sande

Appointed/Elected:

Appointed July 11, 2016, by Governor Mark Dayton. Elected in 2018 and 2024.


Professional and Community Activities:

  • Presiding Judge,Civil Division, Fourth Judicial District
  • Fourth Judicial District Executive Committee
  • Fourth Judicial District Facilities and Security Committee (Chair, 2021-2023)
  • Lead Judge, Division 4 Suburban Criminal Courts
  • Board of Directors, Minnesota Volunteer Lawyers Network (2022 to present)
  • Minnesota Lavender Bar Association (Board member, 2020-present; Member, 2017-present)
  • International Association of LGBTQ+ Judges
  • Minnesota State Canvassing Board (2020)
  • Minnesota Campaign Finance & Public Disclosure Board (Chair, 2016; Member, 2013 to 2016)
  • Volunteer high school mock trial judge, Minnesota State Bar Association (2015 to present)
  • Board of Directors, Consumer Credit of Minnesota (2015 to 2016)
  • GED tutor, Open Door Learning Center (North Minneapolis), Minnesota Literacy Council (2014 to 2019)
  • Minnesota State Bar Association (1996 to present)
  • Washington State Bar Association (2004 to 2016)

Presentations:

  • “Discovery and Pretrial Litigation: A View From the Bench,” (National Business Institute, May 2023)
  • “The Judges View: Minnesota Civil Litigation Do’s and Don’ts” with Judges Laura Nelson and Mark Ireland (National Business Institute, May 2023)
  • “LGBTQ Judges Roundtable,” with Justice Margaret Chutich and Judges David Piper and Melissa Houghtaling (Minnesota Lavender Bar Association Annual Conference, February 2023)
  • “November 2020 I-94 Protests: Managing One of Minnesota’s Largest Mass Arrests,” with Judge Michael Browne (Annual Conference of Minnesota Judges, December 2022)
  • “The Judges’ View: Minnesota Civil Litigation Do’s and Don’ts,” with Judges Kevin Burke, Karen Janisch, and Laura Nelson (National Business Institute, April 2022)
  • “Electronic Evidence in Family and Civil Court,” with Judge Jamie Anderson and Referee Rick Stebbins (Fourth District Judges’ Spring Retreat, April 2022)
  • “Civil Bench Trials,” with Judges Jamie Anderson, Laurie Miller, and Patrick Robben (Presentation to MSBA Civil Litigation Section, March 2022)
  • “So You Want to be a Judge?” with Judges Theodora Gaitas and Colette Routel (Minnesota Lavender Bar Association Annual Conference, February 2022)
  • “Career Conversations for Law Students,” (Minnesota Lavender Bar Association, October 2020)
  • Annual Family Court Roundtable (MSBA Family Law Section, 2017-2019)

Past Employment:

Attorney, Christian Sande LLC (2006 to 2016)
Attorney, Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P. (1996 to 2005)

 

Education:

J.D., cum laude, William Mitchell College of Law (1996)
B.A., International Relations, Hamline University (1990)


Assignment History: 

Civil/Criminal, August 3, 2020 - Present
Family, April 14, 2017 - July 31, 2020
Criminal,  July 11, 2016 - Present

Practice Pointers and Preferences
Trial Ground Rules