Gov. John Hoeven has named H. Patrick Weir, 69, as Southwest Judicial District Judge chambered in Dickinson. Weir will succeed longtime District Judge Allan Schmalenberger, who retired at the end of July.Gov. John Hoeven has named H. Patrick Weir, 69, as Southwest Judicial District Judge chambered in Dickinson. Weir will succeed longtime District Judge Allan Schmalenberger, who retired at the end of July.
Hoeven made the announcement in a news conference at the Stark County Courthouse in Dickinson.
Weir is a Dickinson native who now lives on a small ranch near Medora. He is currently "Of Counsel" with the Vogel Law Firm, based out of its Bismarck office.
Weir worked for many years as a partner in Vogel's Fargo office. According to the firm's website, his practice has included medical malpractice defense litigation, insurance defense litigation, health care law, and corporate and banking law. Before joining the firm he was a law clerk to the late Charles J. Vogel, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Weir is a 1961 graduate of St. John's University. He received his law degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1964, where he served on the editorial board of the Notre Dame Law Review. He has taught trial practice at the University of North Dakota Law School.
Weir and his wife, Diane, raise quarterhorses. He serves on the boards of the Home on the Range for boys and girls, Sentinel Butte, N.D., and the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Foundation, Medora, and serves as a Trustee for the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Hoeven picked Weir from a list of three finalists submitted by the Judicial Nominating Committee. The other finalists were Dickinson lawyers Dann Greenwood and Robert Keogh.
Under the current North Dakota constitutional provision, the judgeship will be on the general election ballot in 2012.
Sept. 11, 2009