List of University of South Dakota School of Law people
# List of University of South Dakota School of Law people

List of prominent alumni and faculty of the University of South Dakota School of Law.

## Academia

| James W. Abbott | J.D. 1974 | President of the University of South Dakota 1997–present. |
| - | - | - |
| Harvey Jewett | J.D. 1973 | President of South Dakota Board of Regents |

## Attorneys General

| Royal Johnson | L.L.B. 1906 | 8th Attorney General of South Dakota |
| - | - | - |
| Clarence C. Caldwell | L.L.B. 1906 | 9th Attorney General of South Dakota. |
| Buell F. Jones | L.L.B. | 11th Attorney General of South Dakota. |
| Merrel Sharpe | L.L.B. 1914 | 12th Attorney General of South Dakota. |
| D. Walter Conway | L.L.B. | 13th Attorney General of South Dakota. |
| George Mickelson | L.L.B. 1927 | 16th Attorney General of South Dakota. |
| Sigurd Anderson | L.L.B. 1937 | 17th Attorney General of South Dakota. |
| Parnell J. Donahue | L.L.B. | 20th Attorney General of South Dakota. |
| Albert C. Miller | L.L.B. | 21st Attorney General of South Dakota. |
| Frank Farrar | L.L.B. 1953 | 22nd Attorney General of South Dakota. |
| Gordon Mydland | L.L.B. 1948 | 23rd Attorney General of South Dakota. |
| Kermit Sande | J.D. 1968 | 24th Attorney General of South Dakota. |
| William Janklow | J.D. 1966 | 25th Attorney General of South Dakota and petitioner in South Dakota v. Opperman and Reeves, Inc. v. Stake. |
| Mark V. Meierhenry | J.D. 1970 | 26th Attorney General of South Dakota and petitioner in Solem v. Helm and Solem v. Bartlett. |
| Roger Tellinghuisen | J.D. 1978 | 27th Attorney General of South Dakota and petitioner in South Dakota v. Dole. |
| Mark Barnett | J.D. 1978 | 28th Attorney General of South Dakota and petitioner in South Dakota v. Bourland. |
| Larry Long | J.D. 1972 | 29th Attorney General of South Dakota, Judge of 2nd Circuit Court of South Dakota. |
| Marty Jackley | J.D. 1995 | current 30th Attorney General of South Dakota and petitioner in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. |

## Business

| Roswell Bottum | L.L.B. 1924 | chief counsel to Reconstruction Finance Corporation |
| - | - | - |
| Joe Robbie | L.L.B. 1946 | founder-owner of the Miami Dolphins, 1966-1990. |
| Frank Farrar | L.L.B. 1953 | founder, owner, and chairman of First Savings Bank. |
| Mike Myers | J.D. 1967 | CEO of Mayo Clinic and board director of Minnesota Blue Cross Blue Shield |
| Harvey C. Jewett IV | J.D. 1973 | CEO of Super 8 Motels and heir Jewett fortune. |
| John Porter | J.D. 1974 | CEO of Avera Health. |
| Steve T. Kirby | J.D. 1975 | co-founder of Bluestem Capital. |
| Ross Dupper | J.D. 1982 | President & CEO of Porsche North America, Inc. |

## Governors and Lieutenant Governors

| John T. Grigsby | L.L.B 1903 | Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota and member of the prominent Kingsbury family. |
| - | - | - |
| Leslie Jensen | L.L.B. 1921 | 15th Governor of South Dakota |
| Merrell Q. Sharpe | L.L.B. 1914 | 17th Governor of South Dakota. |
| George T. Mickelson | L.L.B. 1927 | 18th Governor of South Dakota and 1952 U.S. Presidential Candidate |
| Joseph H. Bottum | L.L.B. 1927 | 27th Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota, and presiding Judge of the Fifth Circuit Court of South Dakota. |
| Lem Overpeck | L.L.B. 1936 | Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota. |
| Sigurd Anderson | L.L.B. 1937 | 19th Governor of South Dakota. |
| Frank L. Farrar | L.L.B. 1953 | 24th Governor of South Dakota. |
| George S. Mickelson | J.D. 1965 | 28th Governor of South Dakota. |
| William J. Janklow | J.D. 1966 | 27th and 30th Governor of South Dakota. |
| Steve Kirby | J.D. 1975 | Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota. |
| Matt Michels | J.D. 1985 | current Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota, 2011–present. |

## State Supreme Court Justices

| Charles R. Hayes | L.L.B. | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| - | - | - |
| Charles R. Hanson | L.L.B. | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| James M. Doyle | L.L.B. | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Fred R. Winans | L.L.B. | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Jon Fosheim | L.L.B. 1943 | Chief Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Frank Biegelmeier | L.L.B. 1927 | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Alex Rentto | L.L.B. 1933 | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Francis G. Dunn | L.L.B. 1937 | Chief Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Fred J. Homeyer | L.L.B. 1942 | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Donald J. Porter | L.L.B. 1943 | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| George W. Wuest | L.L.B. 1949 | Chief Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Robert E. Morgan | L.L.B. 1950 | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Oren P. Coler | L.L.B. 1952 | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Frank Henderson | L.L.B. 1952 | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Boyd Leedom | L.L.B. 1955 | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Roger L. Wollman | J.D. 1962 | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Richard W. Sabers | J.D. 1963 | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Robert A. Miller | J.D. 1963 | Chief Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Laurence J. Zastrow | J.D. 1970 | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| John K. Konenkamp | J.D. 1974 | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Steven L. Zinter | J.D. 1975 | current Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| David Gilbertson | J.D. 1975 | current Chief Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Glen A. Severson | J.D. 1975 | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Lori S. Wilbur | J.D. 1977 | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Judith Meierhenry | J.D. 1977 | Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Daryl Hecht | J.D. 1977 | current Justice, Iowa Supreme Court. |
| Steven R. Jensen | J.D. 1988 | current Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |
| Mark Salter | J.D. 1993 | current Justice, South Dakota Supreme Court. |

## United States District Attorneys

| Leo P. Flynn | L.L.B. 1934 | 27th U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota. |
| - | - | - |
| Clinton G. Richards | L.L.B. 1928 | 28th U.S. Attorney, District of South Dakota. |
| Harold C. Doyle | L.L.B. 1951 | 29th U.S. Attorney, District of South Dakota. |
| William F. Clayton | L.L.B. 1951 | 30th U.S. Attorney, District of South Dakota. |
| David V. Vrooman | L.L.B. 1956 | 31st U.S. Attorney, District of South Dakota. |
| Robert D. Hiaring | J.D. 1968 | 32nd U.S. Attorney, District of South Dakota |
| Jeff Viken | J.D. 1977 | 33rd U.S. Attorney, District of South Dakota. |
| Philip N. Hogen | J.D. 1970 | 34th U.S. Attorney, District of South Dakota, Commissioner of National Indian Gaming Commission. |
| Ted McBride | J.D. 1978 | 37th U.S. Attorney, District of South Dakota |
| James E. McMahon | J.D. 1977 | 38th U.S. Attorney, District of South Dakota. |
| Marty Jackley | J.D. 1995 | 39th U.S. Attorney, District of South Dakota. |
| Randy Seiler | J.D. 1980 | 41st U.S. Attorney, District of South Dakota. |
| Ron A. Parsons Jr. | J.D. 1997 | current 42nd U.S. Attorney, District of South Dakota 2018–present. |

## United States District Court

| George Theodore Mickelson | L.L.B. 1927 | Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of South Dakota. |
| - | - | - |
| Fred Joseph Nichol | L.L.B. 1936 | Chief Judge, U.S. District Court of for the District of South Dakota |
| Donald James Porter | L.L.B. 1943 | Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. |
| Andrew Wendell Bogue | L.L.B. 1947 | Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota |
| John Bailey Jones | L.L.B. 1953 | Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. |
| Richard Battey | L.L.B. 1953 | Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota, presiding judge of 'Sue' Dinosaur Case. |
| Lawrence Leroy Piersol | J.D. 1965 | Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. |
| Jeffrey Lynn Viken | J.D. 1977 | current Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. 2013–present. |
| Daneta Wollmann | J.D. 2003 | current Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota. 2018–present. |

## United States Court of Appeals

| Roger Leland Wollman | J.D. 1962 | Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit |
| - | - | - |

## United States House of Representatives

| William Williamson | L.L.B. 1905 | 22nd U.S. Representative from South Dakota. |
| - | - | - |
| Royal Cleaves Johnson | L.L.B. 1906 | 19th U.S. Representative from South Dakota, and highly decorated WWI veteran while he was a member of Congress. |
| Ellis Yarnal Berry | L.L.B. 1927 | 28th U.S. Representative from South Dakota. |
| Harold Lovre | L.L.B. 1927 | 27th U.S. Representative from South Dakota. |
| Frank E. Denholm | L.L.B. 1959 | 31st U.S. Representative from South Dakota. |
| Bill Janklow | J.D. 1966 | 39th U.S. Representative from South Dakota. |
| James Abourezk | J.D. 1966 | 32nd U.S. Representative, author of the Indian Child Welfare Act, and first Lebanese-American member of Congress. |
| Tim Johnson | J.D. 1975 | U.S. Representative from South Dakota. |

## United States Tax Court

| Diane Kroupa | J.D. 1981 | Judge, United States Tax Court and Chief Judge, Minnesota Tax Court |
| - | - | - |

## United States Senate

| Joseph H. Bottum | L.L.B. 1927 | 19th U.S. Senator from South Dakota |
| - | - | - |
| James Abourezk | J.D. 1966 | 21st U.S. Senator from South Dakota and first Arab-American member of Congress. |
| Tim Johnson | J.D. 1975 | 25th U.S. Senator from South Dakota. |

## United States Military

| Royal C. Johnson | L.L.B. 1906 | U.S. Lieutenant, Distinguished Service Cross recipient and Croix de Guerre with gold star from the Republic of France. |
| - | - | - |
| Leslie Jensen | L.L.B. 1921 | U.S. Colonel in Pacific Theater of WWII |
| George E. "Bud" Day | L.L.B. 1949 | U.S. Colonel, Medal of Honor recipient, most highly decorated military officer since Douglas MacArthur, and POW cell-mate with John McCain |
| Gregory J. Stoltenburg | J.D. 1995 | U.S. Lt. Colonel and current Presiding Judge of the Third Circuit Court of South Dakota, 2015–present. |

## State Legislature

* William Garner Waddel (1904), Member of South Dakota Senate
* Roswell Bottum (1924), Member of South Dakota House of Representatives
* Donald A. Haggar, Member of South Dakota House of Representatives
* Scott Heidepriem (1980), Minority Leader of South Dakota Senate.
* Anne Hajek, Member of South Dakota House of Representatives
* Marc Feinstein (1995), Member of South Dakota House of Representatives
* Lance Russell (2000), Member of South Dakota House of Representatives
* Craig Kennedy, Member of South Dakota Senate
* Joni Cutler, Member of South Dakota House of Representatives
* Ervin E. Dupper, Member of South Dakota Senate
* Ron J. Volesky, Member of South Dakota Senate
* Timothy Johns, Member of South Dakota House of Representatives
* Roger W. Hunt, Member of South Dakota House of Representatives
* Margaret V. Gillespie, Member of South Dakota House of Representatives
* Mike Stevens, Member of South Dakota House of Representatives
* Brian Gosch (1996), current Majority Leader and former Speaker of the House of South Dakota House of Representatives.
* David Lust (1997), Majority Leader of South Dakota House of Representatives.

## Tribal, Sovereign, Foreign Courts

* Creighton Leland Robertson (1976), Chief Judge of the Sisseton Wapheton Oyate Reservation Tribal Court
* Charles Abourezk (1992), current Chief Justice of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Supreme Court, 2014–present.

## Noted Faculty

### Current

* Frank Pommersheim, American Indian Law Professor, Camden 28 member, Chief Judge for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Court of Appeals and the Chief Justice of the Rosebud Sioux Supreme Court
* Patrick Garry, Constitutional Law Professor
* Brendan Johnson, adjunct Law Professor and former U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota.

### Former

* Thomas Sterling, 1st Dean of the College of Law and U.S. Senator from South Dakota. Namesake of Sterling Honors.
* Bartlett Tripp, 1st Professor of Law, 25th U.S. Ambassador to Austria, last Chief Justice of Dakota Territory Supreme Court, and first president of the South Dakota Bar Association.
* Ralph E. Erickson, 5th Dean of the College of Law and 11th Deputy Attorney General of the United States during the Nixon Administration.
* Charles Hall Dillon, Professor of Law, U.S. Representative from South Dakota and Associate Justice of the South Dakota Supreme Court. Namesake of the Dillon Lecture Series.
* Roger Baron, Professor of Law, ERISA scholar, and counsel in Sereboff v. Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Inc.
* Mike Myers, Professor of Law, CEO of Mayo Clinic, and candidate for Governor of South Dakota.
