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25 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. 1163 (1999)
Tribute to Justice Esther Tomljanovich

handle is hein.journals/wmitch25 and id is 1183 raw text is: TRIBUTE TO JUSTICE ESTHER TOMLJANOVICH Douglas G. Hoddert It seems we owe a debt of gratitude to Portia Moot. Ms. Moot was a lawyer. Before there were many, if any, women lawyers in Minnesota, Ms. Moot stationed herself in the courtroom doing bat- tle for her clients. In the early 1940s, one could listen to the adven- tures of Portia Moot on a radio show of the same name. To our collective benefit, during some of her free time in grade school, Justice Esther Tomljanovich did just this. Today, Justice Tomljano- vich explains that it was her desire to emulate Portia Moot that was at least partially responsible for her becoming a lawyer-and ajus- tice on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Now, on the occasion of her retirement from the Minnesota Supreme Court it is easy to look back on her career as a lawyer and jurist to see a distinguished and selfless list of contributions and accomplishments. Justice Tomljanovich was born in Iowa. Within a year she and her family moved to Buck Lake, Minnesota. Justice Tomljanovich spent most of her formative years in Minnesota's Iron Range where she got her early education in a one room, country school house north of Nashwauk. She graduated from Nashwauk High School and from there attended Itasca Junior College. Then, at nineteen years of age, she left her family to come to St. Paul, where she rented a room at the YWCA and attended the St. Paul College of Law, which later merged into William Mitchell College of Law. Justice Tomljanovich was the only woman in her class at law school. Still, she was treated well by the professors and her class- mates and was never frightened of the experience. She explains that she never realized she had anything to fear, a state of mind passed down to her from her father. After graduating, she had ex- pected to return to Nashwauk to practice law. However, she re- mained in St. Paul and continued employment with Minnesota Mu- t Douglas G. Hodder, former Editor-in-Chief of the William Mitchell Law Review, served as law clerk forJustice Tomljanovich during the 1995-96 session. He is currently a patent attorney with the law firm Morrison & Foerster in San Fran- cisco, California. 1163

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