{"id":18244,"date":"2022-05-06T08:00:54","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T13:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/?p=18244"},"modified":"2022-05-25T16:26:08","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T21:26:08","slug":"for-judge-richelle-wahi-03-equity-work-is-path-towards-true-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2022\/05\/06\/for-judge-richelle-wahi-03-equity-work-is-path-towards-true-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"For Judge Richelle Wahi ’03, equity work is path towards true justice"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Judge Richelle Wahi ’03<\/p><\/div>\n

When Judge Richelle Wahi \u201903 presides at the Dakota County Courthouse in Hastings, Minnesota, she explains to parties why she doesn\u2019t always make eye contact. \u201cIt\u2019s important that people feel seen and heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wahi experienced hearing loss later in life, so she reads from a court reporter\u2019s real-time transcription on a screen in front of her. Courtroom audio also connects with her hearing aid.<\/p>\n

But the pandemic was a time when everyone \u2013 not just a select few \u2013 needed technology accommodations to attend court.<\/p>\n

Wahi and others realized the benefits of having proceedings online, especially without any public transportation connections to the courthouse. \u201cZoom greatly enhanced access to justice for people in the First Judicial District who didn\u2019t have transportation and saved everyone time and money to get there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Wahi, 46, was tasked with getting family court back up and running with a focus on inclusion and access. The importance of such work dates to Wahi\u2019s childhood in rural southern Minnesota and extends throughout her educational and professional journey.<\/p>\n

\"Mitchell<\/a>

This article first appeared in the Spring 2022 issue of Mitchell Hamline Law magazine.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cBeing one of only a few immigrant families and growing up in a small town, you\u2019re made keenly aware of your differences,\u201d noted Wahi, whose father was from India and mother from a French-speaking part of Canada. English was rarely spoken at home.<\/p>\n

Wahi wasn\u2019t sure what to do after college but was interested in law and accepted to William Mitchell. She didn\u2019t know it was the right choice until she met and was mentored by professor and former Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Esther Tomlijanovich \u201855.<\/p>\n

Tomlijanovich started a student group for women, lovingly called \u2018the Coven,\u2019 that met regularly for tea and encouragement. \u201cJudge T taught me to never be afraid to ask the tough questions and to continue to go outside the comfort zone,\u201d said Wahi. \u201cAnd the Coven showed me there\u2019d always be people to support me.\u201d<\/p>\n

After law school, Wahi litigated multimillion dollar cases. But it was a conciliation court case worth just $567 \u2013 where she volunteered as referee \u2013 that pulled her heartstrings. \u201cAs small as this case may seem, it was important to this person. It became important to me to serve everyday people.\u201d When a vacancy opened on the bench, Wahi applied and was appointed district court judge in 2016.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Judge Wahi ’03 (left) with Justice Esther Tomljanovich ’55 at the Women in Law celebration on May 12, 2022.<\/p><\/div>\n

Wahi\u2019s equity work also includes serving on the Minnesota Judicial Branch\u2019s Statewide Committee for Equality and Justice and chairs the Subcommittee on Access and Fairness. The work identifies bias within the justice system and recommends changes in processes, procedures, and policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work is near and dear to my heart because we know there are inequities within our justice system that must be recognized, challenged, and changed to ensure true justice. It\u2019s my path, it\u2019s my duty.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EVENT: Judge Wahi presented findings and recommendations of a recent report on jury race data from the Committee for Equality and Justice at an event with the Hennepin County Bar Association in May 2002. You can read the report here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Judge Richelle Wahi \u201903 presides at the Dakota County Courthouse in Hastings, Minnesota, she explains to parties why she doesn\u2019t always make eye contact. \u201cIt\u2019s important that people feel seen and heard.\u201d Wahi experienced hearing loss later in life, so she reads from a court reporter\u2019s real-time transcription on a screen in front of … <\/p>\n

For Judge Richelle Wahi ’03, equity work is path towards true justice<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5668,"featured_media":18277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,3,5,77],"tags":[28,390,391,389,174,388],"class_list":{"0":"post-18244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-alumni","8":"category-features","9":"category-news","10":"category-office-of-diversity-equity-and-inclusion","11":"tag-alumni","12":"tag-equity","13":"tag-esther-tomlijanovich","14":"tag-judge","15":"tag-judicial-branch","16":"tag-richelle-wahi","17":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5668"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}