Thomas D. O'Brien
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Thomas Dillon O'Brien (February 14, 1859 – September 3, 1935) was an American
lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...
,
judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...
, and
academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
from
Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
. He was one of the five co-founders of
William Mitchell College of Law William Mitchell College of Law was a private law school from 1956 to 2015 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), it offered full- and part-time legal education in pursuit of the Juris Doctor (J. ...
and a justice of the
Minnesota Supreme Court The Minnesota Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The court hears cases in the Supreme Court chamber in the Minnesota State Capitol or in the nearby Minnesota Judicial Center. History The court was first assemb ...
.


Biography

O'Brien was born in the Wisconsin town of La Pointe, on
Madeline Island Madeline Island (Ojibwe: ''Mooningwanekaaning)'' is an island in Lake Superior. Located in Ashland County, Wisconsin, it has long been a spiritual center of the Lake Superior Chippewa. Although the largest of the Apostle Islands, it is not in ...
on February 14, 1859. At the age of four, he and his family moved to
St. Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 311,527, making it Minnesota's second-most populous city a ...
. He read law with a local practitioner and was admitted to the state bar in 1880. He began his legal career as the Clerk of St. Paul's Municipal Court. In 1885, he was appointed Assistant City Attorney. In 1891, he sought and won election as Ramsey County Attorney, although he only served for one term. In 1900, along with Hiram F. Stevens, Ambrose Tighe, Moses Clapp, and Clarence Halbert, he founded
William Mitchell College of Law William Mitchell College of Law was a private law school from 1956 to 2015 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA), it offered full- and part-time legal education in pursuit of the Juris Doctor (J. ...
's first predecessor school, the St. Paul College of Law. He taught there for most of that decade. From 1905 to 1907, O'Brien served as the state Insurance Commissioner. In September 1909, Governor John Albert Johnson appointed him to be an associate justice of the
Minnesota Supreme Court The Minnesota Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The court hears cases in the Supreme Court chamber in the Minnesota State Capitol or in the nearby Minnesota Judicial Center. History The court was first assemb ...
. O'Brien left the court in 1911 and returned to private practice. He later served as the dean of the St. Thomas College of Law, until its dissolution in 1933. He died in St. Paul on September 3, 1935, and was buried there at Calvary Cemetery.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Thomas D. 1859 births 1935 deaths Politicians from Saint Paul, Minnesota People from La Pointe, Wisconsin Minnesota lawyers Justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court Mitchell Hamline School of Law