Eric J. Magnuson

Eric John Magnuson (born January 27, 1951) is an American lawyer in private practice. He was the Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court from 2008 to 2010. Education and professional background Magnuson was born in Morris, Illinois. He graduated from Osseo High School, Osseo, Minnesota in 1968 and the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis in 1972, and from William Mitchell College of Law in Saint Paul in 1976. During his third year of law school, Magnuson clerked for future state Chief Justice Douglas Amdahl, then a Hennepin County district judge. The following year, he clerked for then-Chief Justice Robert Sheran. Magnuson joined the Minneapolis law firm of Rider Bennett in 1977. An appellate lawyer in the state and federal courts, he served as president of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers and founded the Eighth Circuit Bar Association. Governor Tim Pawlenty chose him to chair the state Commission on Judicial Selection from 2003 to 2008. In 2007, after Rider Bennett dissolved, he joined the Minneapolis law firm of Briggs & Morgan. Judicial service