Ashley Samuelson

Judge Samuelson was appointed as District Court Judge by Governor Kelly Armstrong on November 12, 2025, for the Northeast Judicial District Judgeship #4 located in Devils Lake, North Dakota.

Judge Samuelson is a native of the Northeast Judicial District, having been raised in Edmore, North Dakota. She earned her Bachelor of Arts Summa Cum Laude in Honors, with minors in Political Science and History at the University of North Dakota. Judge Samuelson went on to graduate from the University of North Dakota School of Law, earning her Juris Doctor with Distinction. She was admitted to the North Dakota Bar on October 8, 2007.

Following law school, Judge Samuelson clerked for the highly respected North Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle. She then joined Robert Vogel Law Office, P.C., as an Associate Attorney in 2008. In 2011, she worked began working as a Special Assistant Attorney General for the North Dakota Department of Human Services Child Support Unit in Devils Lake, North Dakota. During that time, she was licensed and also practiced before the Turtle Mountain Tribal Court. In 2017, Judge Samuelson was hired as a law clerk for the Northeast Judicial District. In 2020, her position was reclassified and she became the first District Court Staff Attorney in the state.

Judge Samuelson has served as past president of the Lake Region Bar Association, past Executive Committee Member of the Women’s Law Section, past chair and member of the Inquiry Committee - Northeast, and a past member of the CLE Commission. She is a Certified Court Manager and is certified in Adult Mental Health First Aid as well as Collaborative Negotiation.