{"id":427,"date":"2022-11-17T19:06:05","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T19:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/history\/?post_type=biography&p=427"},"modified":"2024-09-19T10:56:30","modified_gmt":"2024-09-19T15:56:30","slug":"gail-chang-bohr-1991","status":"publish","type":"biography","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/history\/biography\/gail-chang-bohr-1991\/","title":{"rendered":"Gail Chang Bohr (WMCL 1991)"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Immigrant\u2019s Childhood<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Judge Gail Chang Bohr\u2019s childhood in Jamaica, West Indies, a British colony, prepared her well to be an advocate for children and a Minnesota District Court judge.\u00a0 Bohr was born to Percy and Alice Chang on March 25, 1944, in Kingston, Jamaica.\u00a0 Her Chinese name, Gui-Ying, is also the name of a historic woman warrior.\u00a0 Her English name Gail Margaret Rose honored her grandmother, Margaret Chin Loy, and Britain\u2019s Princess Margaret.<\/p>\n

In 1921, at the age of 15, Chang Bohr\u2019s father left China to sail to Jamaica to work for his uncle.\u00a0\u00a0 China was then in crisis: Western forces, including Japan, were trying to carve China up into spheres of influence. Lawlessness and banditry were rampant, and the country\u2019s infrastructure was in disrepair. For rural residents, farming was almost impossible because the irrigation systems were broken. Chang himself had to hide from bandits as he walked from his village to Hong Kong to see his brother. He noticed the bullet holes in the Lo Wu Bridge he had to cross on the way. The constraints he confronted in China were underscored by the signs he often saw in Hong Kong: \u201cNo dogs or Chinese allowed.\u201d Emigration had to be better than this.<\/p>\n

As a Hakka Chinese, Chang Bohr\u2019s father embodied Hakka characteristics of hard work, risk taking, honesty, and resourcefulness. The Hakkas originated in the north of China but were pushed further into the south of China by invading Mongols. In 1951, her father opened Chang\u2019s Emporium, Jamaica\u2019s first self-service supermarket, a testament to his hard work. On weekdays, he opened the shop at 7:00 a.m. and closed at 10:00 p.m., and at midnight on the weekends. The children helped in every way. Chang Bohr herself did all needed jobs: bagging sugar, flour, and rice; packing the shelves; and working the cash register. Her father, who built everything in the store from shelves to shopping carts, impressed on his children that they should never talk back to customers for they were \u201calways right.\u201d He taught them to relate to all kinds of customers. Her mother attended Mass every day and was a founding member of Holy Cross Parish Church. She helped many poor Jamaicans who came to her for help.<\/p>\n

Judge Chang Bohr\u2019s experience as the ninth of 15 children \u2013 six girls and nine boys \u2013 strongly influenced her later decision to be an advocate for children. The older sisters were responsible for taking care of the younger siblings.\u00a0 As she stated, \u201cChildren are really valued in Chinese culture. At mealtime, for example, children are served first. Each sister had a younger brother we were in charge of.\u201d\u00a0 The sudden death of an older brother in a car accident impressed on her the fragility of life and the importance of expressing your love and care for others, while they are still living.<\/p>\n

Chang Bohr\u2019s forward-thinking mother impressed on the children the value of education. Her parents paid the children\u2019s school fees and supported their piano and dance lessons. Because the Chinese were a minority in Jamaica, the Changs wanted their children to speak English without an accent and decided not to speak Chinese at home.<\/p>\n

Personal and Early Professional Life<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Judge Chang Bohr came to the United States in 1962 from Jamaica to attend Wellesley College, in Massachusetts, on a full scholarship.\u00a0Her journey to higher education was influenced by many mentors and supporters along the way.\u00a0 A Jesuit priest encouraged her to apply to well-known U.S. women\u2019s colleges. Attending school in the U.S. was a culture shock for her as she came to the urban Boston area in the United States from an island recently granted independence from colonial England.<\/p>\n

Chang Bohr\u2019s faculty advisor and sociology professor encouraged her to become a social worker after graduation. At the time, her plan was to return to Jamaica.\u00a0 Because she was not a U.S. citizen, she was not eligible for most student financial aid, but she secured a fellowship in the master\u2019s program at Simmons College School of Social Work.\u00a0 She graduated with a Master of Science in Social Work degree in 1968.<\/p>\n

Chang Bohr decided to remain in the United States and secured employment at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston at its Roxbury outreach children\u2019s clinic. When she and her husband, Richard, were married, they moved to Hong Kong where he taught at the Diocesan Boys School. Out of the blue, Chang Bohr was offered a position as a Field Work Instructor at the University of Hong Kong Social Work Department by Peter Hodges, head of the department. Hodges had received a letter of introduction for Chang Bohr from Janet Wien, head of the Social Work Department at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston\u2019s Chinatown. Wien had chaired an alumnae committee that Chang Bohr served on. That fortuitous development made Chang Bohr realize the importance of showing up, because Wien got to know her only from those few meetings.<\/p>\n

Chang Bohr and her husband returned to the United States in 1974. She became the lead pediatric social worker at the University of California-Davis Medical School, Sacramento Medical Center. She was also the social worker for pediatric specialty clinics, working with and counseling children who had cancer, diabetes, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, spinal injuries, and amputations, as well as working with their parents.<\/p>\n

After Chang Bohr became a U.S. citizen in 1986, she began to consider law school. \u00a0Another professional influence that spurred Chang Bohr\u2019s decision was her work at the Children\u2019s Home Society in St. Paul. There, she worked with women who had unplanned pregnancies, and with birth parents who made adoption plans for their children. She understood that their grief process was very similar to that of parents going through the loss of their terminally ill children. She believed that getting a law degree would enhance her ability to advocate for children and their families.\u00a0 With the unwavering support of her husband, Richard, and their two children, Aaron and Jessica, then 10 and 5 years old, she resigned her position, sat for the LSAT, and began law school that same year, 1987.<\/p>\n

Early Legal Career<\/strong><\/h2>\n

At the age of 43, following a 19-year career in clinical social work with children and families, Chang Bohr entered William Mitchell College of Law, graduating\u00a0magna cum laude<\/em>\u00a0in 1991. <\/em>As the first lawyer in her family \u2013 and with no Asian Pacific American peers in her class \u2013 Chang Bohr had no one to advise her. Having had no experience with law review, she listened to what other students were saying and decided to \u201cwrite on\u201d to the William Mitchell Law Review,<\/em> where she moved up the ladder as editor and then executive editor before she graduated.\u00a0 She studied and worked hard to show her appreciation for the love and support her husband and children gave her. She also participated in a Law in Literature reading group which met on Sundays with Prof. Russ Pannier, Court of Appeals Judge Harriet Lansing, and Robins Kaplan attorney Randall Tietjen. Her children, Aaron and Jessica, spent many hours in the cafeteria and law review office when Richard, then Director of Minnesota\u2019s Trade Office, was traveling and she had classes.<\/p>\n

After law school, she clerked for the Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, A.M. \u201cSandy\u201d Keith, at the time that the Court was comprised of a majority of women justices. She loved researching the law and drafting opinions, and it was there that she first thought about becoming a judge. After clerking, she became an associate at Faegre & Benson LLP in the areas of employee benefits, labor and employment, and immigration law.<\/p>\n

Another life changing event for Chang Bohr was attending the International Women\u2019s Conference held in Beijing in 1995. There, for the first time, she met with other Asian & Pacific Islander American women from all around the United States. They were able to remain in touch and work on issues of concern to APIA women in the United States.<\/p>\n

An Advocate for Children<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Chang Bohr loved the opportunity to do pro bono work and won asylum in two cases: one for a family from Somalia and the other for an Evangelical Christian family from Belarus. Through the process of gaining asylum for her clients, Chang Bohr realized her work saved their lives. In 1995, her social work background with children and families led her to apply to become the first executive director of the newly formed Children\u2019s Law Center of Minnesota (CLC).<\/p>\n

At CLC, Chang Bohr initiated programs to provide representation to children in the foster care system.\u00a0 During her 13-year tenure at CLC, in addition to representing children in court, recruiting and managing over 270 CLC pro bono lawyers, and advocating for system reform, she was co-counsel in 21 federal and state appeals and amicus curiae briefs.\u00a0 She participated in the production of the American Bar Association DVD \u201cInterviewing the Child Client,\u201d narrated by Amy Brenneman, and taught trial advocacy for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.\u00a0 She also served as a faculty member at CLC\u2019s training programs for pro bono lawyers who represented children in the foster care system. In 1998, under her leadership, CLC also developed the training program for lawyers, titled \u201cChildren and Immigration Law,\u201d regarded as the first program of its kind.<\/p>\n

Chang Bohr\u2019s knowledge of asylum law came into play at CLC.\u00a0 In one memorable case, she represented a child who was a refugee from a persecuted minority group in Nigeria. The child lived with an \u201cuncle\u201d and his family, but basically, she was little more than a servant girl. When she wanted to do schoolwork instead of housework, her \u201cuncle\u201d beat her, leaving visible marks on her body. The matter came to the attention of child protection officials. The county decided, with the uncle, that the child was a troublemaker and should be sent back to Nigeria. The child told Chang Bohr she did not know her parents, their names, or their whereabouts, so when the county said they had called the parents at a phone number given them by the uncle, Chang Bohr questioned the authenticity of the statement. Chang Bohr also knew that, because the child was a refugee, the county did not have jurisdiction to send her back to Nigeria. Chang Bohr brought a Child in Need of Protection or Services (CHIPS) motion and argued it before the court. The Juvenile Court judge vacated his order to return the child to Nigeria, and instead ordered the child to be a CHIPS child and placed her in foster care.<\/p>\n

Chang Bohr became a respected authority on juvenile rights. She has written many articles on due process rights and the representation of children, and has served on professional committees, including the ABA Section of Litigation Children’s Rights Litigation Committee Working Group, the ABA Project for Judicial Excellence in Child Abuse and Neglect Proceedings, the Minnesota Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee, the Ramsey County Juvenile Court Children’s Justice Initiative, and the Hennepin County Juvenile Court Children\u2019s Justice Initiative.<\/p>\n

A Judicial \u201cFirst\u201d in the Second District<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Judge Chang Bohr was inspired to consider her next career as judge when the Quie Commission was traveling the state taking testimony on whether Minnesota should change from a judicial election to a judicial appointment only system. Chang Bohr testified against amending the Minnesota Constitution because she was convinced that the election system was the best opportunity for women and minority lawyers to become judges.\u00a0 She had personal experience with this approach, having applied for appointment several times during a particular administration, only to learn that she would never be appointed during that governor\u2019s administration \u2013 even though he claimed to be seeking qualified minority applicants. Chang Bohr decided that if she wanted to be a judge, she should \u201cput her money where her mouth is\u201d and run for election in an open judicial seat in Ramsey County.<\/p>\n

During her 2008 campaign, she had grassroots support from many, including the Hmong and Asian Pacific American (APA) community. And, her good friend Sister Marie Shaun, a Carondelet nun, admonished her, when she hesitated, \u201cduc in altum<\/em>\u201d (lead into the deep) \u2013 have faith and take the risk. She enjoyed campaigning opportunities like walking in parades, speaking to groups, even singing karaoke at Melvin Carter\u2019s community karaoke night at Arnellia\u2019s Bar and Restaurant on St. Paul\u2019s University Avenue. She saw campaigning as an opportunity for a civics lesson to educate the community on what judges do.\u00a0 She reminded the audience that, just as Barack Obama was on track to become the first African American president, so she would be the first APA judge in the Second Judicial District of Ramsey County, home to the largest APA population in Minnesota, as well as the first Jamaican-born judge. While she was speaking at an African American church \u201cGet Out the Vote\u201d event days before the election, she was inspired by the historic moment of the presidential election.<\/p>\n

In the primary, Chang Bohr ran in a field of eight candidates, including herself. In the general election, Chang Bohr gathered endorsements from former Vice President\u00a0Walter Mondale<\/a>\u00a0and six retired justices from the Minnesota Supreme Court with whom she had worked. On November 4, 2008, she was elected to an open judicial seat in Ramsey County, receiving 52% of the vote.<\/p>\n

Judge Chang Bohr\u2019s former career as a social worker and her personal history as an Asian Pacific American informed her as judge in Ramsey County. Her knowledge \u201chelped to cut through barriers,\u201d and she was \u201ctold that seeing a face like hers makes people feel the system will be fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chang Bohr\u2019s experience as a social worker taught her how to listen to people and to pay attention to their life situations when determining an appropriate criminal sentence. For example, on one occasion when she was adjudicating a driving while intoxicated (DWI) case involving a defendant struggling with the death of a close relative, she ordered grief counseling so the defendant could understand that alcohol \u201cwas being used as a mask for the feelings of loss.\u201d\u00a0 Her experience also helped when she served as a judge in Mental Health Court.<\/p>\n

On the bench, Chang Bohr also had the opportunity to use her knowledge as an advocate for children. As a judge, Chang Bohr realized that in Family Court, on petitions to return custody of children to the parent after the child had been removed from the home by the state and custody transferred to a relative, the county attorney\u2019s office responsible for the removal and transfer of custody did not have notice of the Family Court petition. When she brought up this failure to coordinate cases, the law was amended to require that the county attorney\u2019s office receive notice and that custody petitions after a transfer be heard in Juvenile Court.<\/p>\n

One of her most memorable cases involved a young man she had adjudicated in juvenile court.\u00a0 He had held up pizza parlors wearing a mask and brandishing a gun. On extended juvenile jurisdiction, he successfully completed a rehabilitation program and found a friend\u2019s mother to provide foster care. On his 18th<\/sup> birthday, he went for a drive with the foster brother, drank alcohol, took the foster brother\u2019s gun which was in glove compartment, and fired it \u2013 all actions that violated his probation. When he went back before Judge Chang Bohr, pleading that she not revoke his status under extended juvenile jurisdiction, she denied his request and sentenced him to prison. She encouraged him not to consider himself a bad person, but as someone with the ability to change his life and avail himself of programs in prison while he served his sentence. Years later, he requested that Judge Chang Bohr officiate at his marriage, telling her, \u201cI want you to know I turned my life around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Serving in retirement<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Judge Bohr retired from the bench on March 31, 2014.\u00a0 Since then, she has served as a Senior Judge with statewide jurisdiction. As well, Chang Bohr is the alternate Senior Judge Representative to the Minnesota District Judges Foundation, which plans Continuing Judicial Education courses for judges.<\/p>\n

In 2014, Judge Bohr accepted an invitation from the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) to become an international consultant to provide technical assistance in its Juvenile Justice Projects in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, specifically St. Lucia and Trinidad. The invitation grew out of a chance meeting in 2011 with the NCSC program manager for international justice projects when Chang Bohr was on a visit to her hometown of Kingston, Jamaica. At the time, Chang Bohr participated in a radio program sponsored by Jamaicans for Justice that discussed ways to improve juvenile justice in Jamaica. The program manager heard the program and later contacted her. In Trinidad, Chang Bohr trained magistrates and judges regarding best practices in juvenile justice and consulted about Youth Courts.<\/p>\n

Chang Bohr has participated in national conferences and training programs. These efforts include a webcast on Human Trafficking, an ABA Children\u2019s Rights Litigation Committee (CRLC) Symposium on Improving the Responses to Children and Families at Risk, and a CRLC State of the Child Summit. She was also invited to give the opening remarks at the 2014 Women\u2019s Access to Leadership Conference in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n

Helping young people learn about the court system has been an abiding interest of Judge Chang Bohr.\u00a0 She has volunteered in the Open Doors to Federal Courts Initiative, a program to introduce high school students to the law and the federal justice system. As part of the program, for example, she shared materials about the Dred Scott Case, the Fourteenth Amendment, and Justice Thurgood Marshall. She also speaks to students at Mitchell Hamline School of Law and at high schools about her career path.<\/p>\n

She was one of the authors involved in the publication, Tough Cases: Judges Tell the Stories of Some of the Hardest Decisions They\u2019ve Ever Made,<\/em> The New Press (2018).<\/p>\n

In 2021, Chang Bohr assumed the presidency of the Infinity Project, whose mission is to increase the number of women on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and create a pipeline for women lawyers and lawyers of color to be state and federal judges in Minnesota. Indeed, Chang Bohr was supported by members of the Infinity Project in her successful election to the judgeship. She may even have been the first recipient of Infinity Project\u2019s candidate support!<\/p>\n

She is a mentor to Asian Pacific Americans and to new lawyers. She has served on the Board of Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers and was a member of the ABA, MSBA, RCBA, HCBA, and MNAPABA bar associations, and is on the NAPABA Judicial Council.<\/p>\n

Chang Bohr has received numerous awards for her work as judge and child advocate. In 2018, she was a recipient of Minnesota Lawyer<\/em> Diversity and Inclusion Award and Girl Scouts River Valleys Woman of Distinction Award. In 2016, she received NAPABA\u2019s Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award, the Toronto Hakka Achievement Award, and the AARP 50 Over 50 Disruptor Award. In 2015, she received the Lifetime Service Award from the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans. In June 2008, she was named one of the top 10 legal newsmakers of the decade by\u00a0Minnesota<\/em>\u00a0Lawyer.<\/em>\u00a0In 2007, she received the ABA Child Advocacy Award, the William Mitchell College of Law Warren E. Burger Distinguished Service Award, and\u00a0Minnesota Lawyer<\/em>‘s Outstanding Service to the Profession Award.\u00a0She was the recipient of the Minnesota State Bar Association Civil Litigation Section Advocate Award in 2004, the\u00a0Minnesota Lawyer<\/em>\u00a0Attorney of the Year Award in 2000, and the Minnesota Council of Child Caring Agencies Distinguished Service Award in 1997.\u00a0 She was also one of six recipients of the Minnesota Council on Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Distinguished Service Award in 2016.<\/p>\n

References<\/h2>\n

*The quotations in this biography are taken from the references below.<\/p>\n

Dick Dahl, Diversity & Inclusion: Senior Judge Gail Chang Bohr<\/em>, Minnesota Lawyer (Oct. 4, 2018), https:\/\/minnlawyer.com\/2018\/10\/04\/diversity-inclusion-senior-judge-gail-chang-bohr\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Emily Gurnon, 8 Lawyers Vie for Rare Open Judgeship in Ramsey County, Pioneer Press, (Aug. 26, 2008, updated Nov. 14, 2015), https:\/\/www.twincities.com\/2008\/08\/26\/8-lawyers-vie-for-rare-open-judgeship-in-ramsey-county-2\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Tom Laventure, The Judicial Legacy of Gail Chang Bohr<\/em>, Asian American Press (May 25, 2014).<\/p>\n

Interview by Prof. Marie Failinger with Judge Gail Chang Bohr (Oct. 14, 2020)<\/p>\n

Minnesota Judicial Branch, Senior Judge Gail Chang Bohr, https:\/\/www.mncourts.gov\/About-The-Courts\/Overview\/JudicialDirectory\/Bio.aspx?id=66<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Judge Gail Chang Bohr\u2019s childhood in Jamaica, West Indies, a British colony, prepared her well to be an advocate for children and a Minnesota District Court judge.\u00a0 Bohr was born to Percy and Alice Chang on March 25, 1944, in Kingston, Jamaica.\u00a0 Her Chinese name, Gui-Ying, is also the name of a historic woman warrior.\u00a0 Her English name Gail Margaret Rose honored her grandmother, Margaret Chin Loy, and Britain\u2019s Princess Margaret. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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