BISMARCK, N.D. – Gov. Doug Burgum has appointed Grand Forks attorney Theodore “Ted” Sandberg to a judgeship in the Northeast Central Judicial District, which is comprised of Grand Forks and Nelson counties.
Sandberg has practiced law for over 25 years. He joined the law firm of Olson, Juntunen, Sandberg, Boettner & Cobb Ltd. in Grand Forks in 2011 and currently is a senior partner at the firm, concentrating on criminal defense and general litigation. He previously worked in private practice in Grand Forks and Detroit from 2006 to 2010, and as a prosecuting attorney for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office in Detroit from 2001 to 2006. Early in his career, he served as a law clerk for a U.S. magistrate judge in Alaska and a circuit court judge in Michigan.
Sandberg earned his bachelor’s degree from Wayne State University in Detroit and his law degree from the University of North Dakota School of Law in 1997. He is a member of the State Bar Association of North Dakota, currently serving a one-year term as its president-elect, and the Greater Grand Forks Bar Association, serving as president in 2013-14. Sandberg has been a member of the North Dakota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers since 2010, serving as its president in 2015-16.
Sandberg served on the State Bar Association’s Continuing Legal Education Committee from 2013 to 2017 and is currently the association’s representative on the U.S. Court Federal Practice Committee for the District of North Dakota. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1988-1991, including as a radioman on the submarine USS Omaha, and since 2014 has served as judge advocate general for the North Dakota Navy League, a nonprofit civilian educational and advocacy organization that supports America’s sea services.
The Northeast Central Judicial District judgeship vacancy was created by the retirement of Judge Lolita Hartl Romanick. Four attorneys were named as finalists for the judgeship, which is chambered in Grand Forks.