Carol Ronning Kapsner, Justice

Carol Ronning Kapsner
Justice of the Supreme Court
State Capitol
Bismarck, ND 58505-0530

701-328-2221
701-328-4480 Fax

Justice Carol Ronning Kapsner was born November 25, 1947, in Bismarck, North Dakota, and raised in Underwood and Bismarck. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1969; studied 17th-century English literature at Oxford University; and, as a Woodrow Wilson fellow and Indiana University fellow, received a Master of Arts degree in English literature from Indiana University in 1971. She received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Colorado School of Law in Boulder, Colorado, in 1977. She started the law firm of Kapsner and Kapsner in Bismarck in 1977 and remained in private practice until 1998. In 1980, she served as president of the Burleigh County Bar Association, and from 1993-1995, served on the Board of Governors of the State Bar Association of North Dakota. She was appointed by the Bar Association to serve on the Judicial Conference from 1988 to 1996. On October 6, 1998, Governor Edward T. Schafer appointed Justice Kapsner to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Herbert L. Meschke. In November 2000, she was elected to a full 10-year term. She chairs the Judicial Planning Committee, and serves on the Personnel Policy Board and the Committee on Tribal and State Court Affairs. She served on the ABA Standards Review Committee and the Judicial Education Commission, and chaired the Court Services Administration Committee. She and her husband, John, have two children. Justice Kapsner has served