Jeffrey Bryan (born April 16, 1976) is an American lawyer from Minnesota who has served as a judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals since 2019. He is a nominee to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.

Early life and education 

Bryan was born on April 16, 1976, in El Paso, Texas. His family is of Mexican descent. His mother was a high school English teacher and inspired Bryan to pursue a career in law after she read him the book To Kill a Mockingbird. Bryan earned his Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, from the University of Texas at Austin in 1998 and his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2002.

Career 

Bryan was a judicial clerk for Judge Paul A. Magnuson of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota from 2002 to 2003. He was a civil litigation attorney for Robins Kaplan LLP in Minneapolis from 2003 to 2007, where he developed a litigation practice emphasizing antitrust law and intellectual property disputes. From 2007 to 2013, he served as an assistant United States attorney for the United States Attorney's Office from 2007 to 2013, where he prosecuted financial fraud and drug-trafficking conspiracies.

State district court 
On July 11, 2013, he was appointed as a trial court judge in the Ramsey County District Court by Governor Mark Dayton to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of J. Thomas Mott. He was subsequently elected in 2014. He co-chaired the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative during his time on the trial court. In 2018 and 2020, Bryan was among four finalists for vacancies on the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Minnesota Court of Appeals 
On October 9, 2019, Governor Tim Walz announced the appointment of Bryan to be a Judge of the Minnesota Court of Appeals. He filled the vacancy left by Heidi Schellhas. He serves in an at-large capacity.

Nomination to federal district court 

On June 23, 2023, Bryan was mentioned as a potential nominee being vetted by the FBI for a vacancy on the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. On July 27, 2023, President Joe Biden nominated Bryan to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. President Biden nominated Bryan to the seat being vacated by Judge John R. Tunheim, who announced his intent to assume senior status upon confirmation of a successor. His nomination is pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee. If confirmed, he would become the first Latino federal judge in Minnesota.

Personal life 

Bryan married Liz Kramer on November 16, 2002, after meeting each other at Yale University. As of 2023, Kramer served as Solicitor General in Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office. Kramer is co-founder of the appeals self-help clinic at the Minnesota Judicial Center and in 2016 was named Minnesota Lawyer's Attorney of the Year.

As of 2013, Bryan was a member of the Minnesota Hispanic Bar Association. He previously served on the Macalester-Groveland Community Council and chaired the Minnesota Minority Recruiting Conference Committee for Twin Cities Diversity in Practice. He also serves on the Minnesota Task Force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, the Minnesota Supreme Court Rules of Evidence Advisory Committee, and on the board of various community organizations, including the Minnesota Urban Debate League, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity.

See also 
 List of Hispanic and Latino American jurists

References

External links 

1970s births
Living people
20th-century American lawyers
21st-century American judges
Year of birth missing (living people)
American judges of Mexican descent
American lawyers of Mexican descent
Assistant United States Attorneys
Hispanic and Latino American judges
Hispanic and Latino American lawyers
Minnesota Court of Appeals judges
Minnesota lawyers
Minnesota state court judges
Lawyers from El Paso, Texas
University of Texas at Austin alumni
Yale Law School alumni