Retired Justice Carol Ronning Kapsner:
A passion for learning and the law
By Kylie Blanchard, Clearwater Communications
Justice Carol Ronning Kapsner retired from the North Dakota
Supreme Court on July 31 after serving nearly 19 years on the
bench. While her early caree r pursuits didn’t include law school, she
soon found her passion and career in studying the law as a student,
lawyer, and judge. “I always loved studying the law and I liked being a
student, and that is what being an appellate judge is,” she notes.
Discovering Law
Kapsner, a Bismarck native, attended St. Mary’s Central High School
and later the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minn., where she
received a bachelor of arts degree in English literature in 1969. She
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.
While in graduate school, her interest in law was piqued by her
husband, John C. Kapsner, who was a law student at the time. “I
planned to be a professor of literature, but my husband would come
home and discuss what he was doing in law school and I thought,
‘this sounds really interesting.’”
After spending time raising her two young daughters, she attended
law school and received her juris doctor degree from the University
of Colorado School of Law in Boulder, Colo., in 1977. Soon after,
she and her family moved back to Bismarck, and Kapsner and her
husband started the law firm of Kapsner and Kapsner.
She remained in private practice until 1998, focusing on family and
real estate law and later representing medical-related groups and
associations. Kapsner says one of the largest and most influential
cases she worked on while in private practice was The ARC of North
Dakota, et al., v. Governor of the State of North Dakota Allen I.
Olson, et al. “This case forced the closing of the San Haven State
Hospital and the deinstitutionalization of hundreds of residents at
the Grafton State School,” she says, adding the case required the
state to develop community-based services for the mentally disabled.
“It was ground breaking and one of the biggest cases we were ever
a part of. It cost the state tens of millions of dollars, and the state
fought the suit for many years.”
Serving on the Supreme Court
In October 1998, Kapsner was appointed by Governor Edward T.
Schafer to fill the vacancy created on the North Dakota Supreme
Court by the retirement of Justice Herbert L. Meschke. In her early
days on the court, Kapsner says she worked hard to study one area of
law in particular. “I tried three criminal cases in private practice. In
my first three months on the bench, I think I slept four hours a night
because I was reading to catch up on that area of the law,” she says. “I
think now, if I were to go back into private practice, I would practice
criminal law.”
In 2000 and 2010, Kapsner was elected to 10-year terms on the
Court. While the adjudicative duties of a Supreme Court Justice were
generally what she expected, Kapsner says there was a significant
amount of administrative and committee work. Kapsner chaired the
Judicial Planning Committee, co-chaired the Commission to Study
Racial and Ethical Bias in Courts, and served on the Personnel
Policy Board. She also served on the Judicial Education Commission,
the Committee on Tribal and State Court Affairs, and chaired the
Court Services Administration Committee, as well as served on the
Standards Review Committee and the Accreditation Committee of
the American Bar Association.
Former Justice Kapsner, far left, with North
Dakota Supreme Court Justices, left to
right, former Justice Dale V. Sandstrom,
Chief Justice Gerald W. VandeWalle, former
Justice Mary Muehlen Maring, and Justice
Daniel J. Crothers.
“I was also always amazed by the number of
hours we read. We probably read 10 hours a
day,” she notes. “I preferred the paper, and I
always toted them home with me and back
the next day.”
This led to the development of one of her
long-standing habits while serving on the
court. “I always read a brief with a pen in hand
and marked grammatical errors and spelling
mistakes.”
Kapsner says while on the Supreme Court,
she appreciated listening to skilled oral
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