BISMARCK, N.D. – Gov. Doug Burgum has appointed former Walsh County prosecutor Barbara Whelan to a judgeship in the Northeast Judicial District, effective Oct. 23.
Whelan will be chambered in Grafton. She replaces Judge M. Richard Geiger, who retired Oct. 1 after 23 years as a Northeast Judicial District judge and seven years as a county judge before that.
Whelan has extensive experience in civil and criminal courtrooms, including as a prosecutor and defense attorney. She served as Walsh County state’s attorney from 2006 until Oct. 15 of this year and as Pembina County state’s attorney from 1999 to 2005. She worked in private practice from 1990 to 1998, including four years as a partner in the Tisdale & Whelan firm in Grafton.
Whelan, who grew up in Turtle Lake, Carrington and Harvey, received her law degree in 1990 from the University of Baltimore (Md.) School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in hospital administration in 1986 from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn.
In addition to her work as an attorney, Whelan has served on the boards of North Dakota Teen Challenge, a faith-based treatment center for individuals addicted to alcohol and/or drugs; IPAT, a nonprofit entity providing assistive technology services to disabled and elderly people to allow them to remain in their homes; and Tri-County Crisis Intervention, a domestic violence agency and shelter.