Robert O. Wefald

District Court Judge

Elected: 1999 - 2010

Born in Excelsior, Minn. Graduate of Minot High School. B.A. from the University of North Dakota. J.D. from University of Michigan Law School. Navy officer during Vietnam War. Captain in Naval Reserve (retired). Law clerk to N.D. Supreme Court. Private practice in Bismarck, 1971-80, and 1985-98. Served as North Dakota Attorney General, 1981-84. Elected District Judge in 1998 and 2004. Married: wife, Susan. Three grown children: Sarah, Kathryn, and Tom.

Bobbi Weiler

District Court Judge

Appointed: 2020 - Present

Judge Weiler was appointed as District Court Judge by Governor Doug Burgum in 2020 for the South Central Judicial District judgeship #6 located in Bismarck, ND.  

Born in 1983; Judge Weiler is a native of Lewistown, MT.  She received her Bachelor of Science from the University of Mary in 2005.  She attended Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Western Michigan University earning her Juris Doctor in  2009. 

She was admitted to the N.D. Bar on May 4, 2010.  She worked in private legal practice from 2010 to 2020.  

H. Patrick Weir

District Court Judge/State's Attorney

Elected: 2009 - 2012

Born 1939 in Dickinson, North Dakota. He is a 1961 graduate of St. John's University, B.S., cum laude, and 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 was a Law Clerk to Chief Judge Charles J. Vogel, United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit, 1964-1965. After that he became a partner with the Vogel Law Office, Fargo, North Dakota. He later joined the Bismarck Vogel Firm, where he practiced until his appointment by Governor John Hoeven as Judge of the Southwest Judicial District, chambered in Dickinson, North Dakota, succeeding retiring Judge Allan Schmalenberger; term beginning September 16, 2009. Judge Weir retired as a district judge Dec. 31, 2012.

Barbara L. Whelan

District Court Judge

Appointed: 2017 - Present

Judge Whelan was appointed as District Court Judge by Governor Doug Burgum in 2017 for the Northeast Judicial District judgeship #6 located in Grafton, ND.  

Born in 1963 in Turtle Lake, ND. Judge Whelan received a Bachelor of Administration in Hospital Administration from Concordia College in 1986.  She received a Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 1990. She was admitted to the N.D. Bar on March 10, 1993.   

Judge Whelan worked in private legal practice in Maryland from 1990-1993. She worked in private legal practice in Hettinger from 1993-1994; and private legal practice in Grafton from 1994-1998. She was the Pembina County State's Attorney from 1999-2005; and the Walsh County State's Attorney from 2006-2017. 

Joris O. Wigen

District Court Judge

Appointed: 1946 - 1958

Judge Wigen was born near Austin, Minnesota on August 9, 1883. He received his early education in the Mower County schools and Jewel Academy at Jewel, Iowa, and later attended the Red Wing Seminary, Red Wing, Minnesota, where he received a B. A. degree in 1907. The following years he spent at the University of Minnesota, where he graduated with a law degree in 1910. Admitted to the Minnesota State Bar, June, 1910 and North Dakota State Bar, December, 1910. Shortly thereafter he moved to Bucyrus, North Dakota, where he engaged in the practice of law. He moved to Hettinger, North Dakota, where he served as Mayor and entered into the banking business, which he continued until 1931. He was a member of the North Dakota House of Representatives in 1929 and 1931. On July 1, 1946 he was appointed Judge of the Sixth Judicial District by Governor Fred G. Aandahl, he served in that capacity until 1958. Judge Wigen died in Phoenix, Arizona, on March 26, 1958, as a result of a traffic accident.

Bert L. Wilson

District Court Judge

Appointed: 1981 - 1991

Born May 22, 1921, at Flaxton, N.D. Graduate of Bowbells High School. Attended Valley City State College, Bismarck State College, University of North Dakota with General Business major; L.L.B. and J.D. University of North Dakota. Lt.j.g. U.S. Naval Reserve in World War II; served in both theaters of war; D-Day at Normandy, Rhineland; ended service in Okinawa. In general practice with father in Bowbells and practiced law in Burke County for 30 years. Burke County State's Attorney 1953-1978. County Judge of Increased Jurisdiction of Williams County 1979-1981. Appointed District Judge November 30, 1981, by Governor Allen I. Olson. Elected 1982 and 1988. Retired 1991. Served as a Surrogate Judge 1991-2000. Member, Lutheran Church, American Legion, Lions, Masons, Scottish Rite, Shrine, Eastern Star, State and National Bar, Judicature Society. Married Beatrice Aune in 1946. Five children: Nancy McCann, Shelley Kilgore, James, Tammy Post, and Thomas.

Walter H. Winchester

District Court Judge

Elected: 1889 - 1912

Judge Winchester was born in Malone, New York, March 21, 1844. He received his early education in the common schools of New York, he also attended the Franklin County Academy from which he graduated in 1866. In 1867 he entered Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he spent two years. In 1870 he went to Davenport, Iowa, where he was employed as a reporter on the daily and weekly "Democrat" for six months. He then accepted the position as principal of the Cordova Academy at Cordova, Illinois, after one year he returned to New York, where he commenced the study of law in his native town, under John I. Gilbert, a well-known attorney of New York. Subsequently he served as principal of the Fort Covington Academy, New York, for three years, at the end of which time he entered the law department of Albany University, graduating in 1873. After his admission to the Bar in 1873, he began practice in his native county and remained there until coming to Bismarck, North Dakota, in 1883. He engaged in the practice of law and was recognized as one of the ablest attorneys of the state, he also served as Burleigh County Superintendent of Schools for six years. In 1889 he was elected Judge of the Sixth Judicial District, where he served until 1912. Judge Winchester died on March 4, 1913.

Keith Wolberg

District Court Judge

Elected: 1995 - 1995

Judge Wolberg was born in Dickinson, North Dakota, November 3, 1949. He graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1971, received his J.D. degree from the University of North Dakota School of Law, with distinction in 1975. He served as a law clerk, for the North Dakota Supreme Court, 1975-1976. From 1983-1993, he was director of the Legislative Intern Program, for the North Dakota Legislative Council. He was in general law practice from 1976 until being elected Judge of the South Central Judicial District in 1994, term to begin in January 1995. He died in office on January 21, 1995.

Charles E. Wolfe

District Court Judge

Elected: 1923 - 1929

Judge Wolfe was born in Nicollet, Minnesota, November 13, 1859. He practiced law in the Territory of Dakota and North Dakota for forty-four years, and served many years as City Attorney of Wahpeton, and State's Attorney of Richland County. He served as Judge of the Third Judicial District from 1923 until his death on February 20, 1929.

James A. Wright

District Court Judge

Appointed: 1992 - 1997

Born December 25, 1946, in Jamestown, ND, and raised in Courtenay, ND. A.A., Bismarck State College 1966; B.S., North Dakota State University 1969; J.D. Hamline University School of Law, 1976. Taught at Jamestown High School 1969-73. Engaged in private law practice from 1976-92. Appointed District Judge in March 1992, and elected in 1992, and 1996. Married: wife Janet. Daughter: Courtney. Died November 4, 1997.

Ryan Younggren

District Court Judge

Elected: 2025 - Present

Born in 1974, Judge Younggren was raised on a Red River Valley farm near Hallock, Minnesota and graduated from Kittson Central High School.  He was awarded a Bachelor of Science in Public Administration (BSPA) from the University of North Dakota in 1997, the flood year, and a Juris Doctorate (JD) from the University of Denver in 2000.  While in law school, Judge Younggren was a legal intern for Federal Magistrate Judge Bruce D. Pringle of the Colorado District Court.  His career as a lawyer began at the firm Ogborn, Summerlin, and Ogborn and he next was a Denver Deputy District Attorney from 2001-2007.  He and his family moved home to Fargo and he became an Assistant Cass County State’s Attorney from 2007-2024.  Judge Younggren has taught trial practice at the University of North Dakota School of Law for many years.