Gail Hagerty:
Called to Serve
By Kylie Blanchard, Clearwater Communications
Gail Hagerty spent more than three decades on the bench, first as a
Burleigh County judge then as a judge in the South Central District,
before recently being ordained as a Lutheran pastor. “I have long
felt a call to ministry and spent many years preparing for the call,”
she says. “While doing so, I lived out my call to be a wife, a parent,
a believer, and a judge. My sense is that life involves many calls, and
this is the time for me to pursue a call to ordained ministry.”
A Career in Law
Hagerty grew up in Grand Forks and attended the University of
North Dakota (UND) for undergraduate and law school. She earned
a bachelor of arts in journalism and political science before receiving
her juris doctor in 1978. She then received a master’s degree in
judicial studies from the University of Nevada-Reno in 1994.
She says her inspiration to pursue a career in law was spurred by the
support of her parents. “I took an aptitude test as a junior high school
student and was told I had the aptitude necessary for law school. My
parents were quick to assure me I could do whatever I aspired to do,”
Hagerty says. “That was huge, since very, very few women practiced
law at the time.”
Following law school, she served as assistant attorney general for the
State of North Dakota until 1980, when she became an assistant
state’s attorney. She then served as Burleigh County State’s Attorney
from 1982-1987, before successfully running for election for Burleigh
County judge. “When the county commissioners decided to create a
second county judgeship in Burleigh County, I was ready for a new
challenge,” she says.
She became a South Central District judge in 1995, and presiding
judge in 2004, positions she held until stepping down in March. “The
Hagerty speaking
at the 2013 SBAND
Annual Meeting,
during her tenure as
association president.
Gail Hagerty, center, with her husband, Dale Sandstrom, and daughter,
Anne Sandstrom, following the completion of her service as district
judge.
greatest rewards came from a sense of solving problems and making
the community work as it should for all its citizens,” Hagerty notes.
“Often there is no good answer and the only option is to do the best
you can with the facts which developed. But someone has to figure
out how the law applies to the facts, and it was a privilege to have the
opportunity to serve in that role.”
Hagerty says every case was important in its time, and the challenges
of the position stemmed from having to make the tough decisions.
“The greatest challenges were situations in which there was no good
answer – two good parents both wanting to be with their children, a
person who wanted to be independent but needed guardianship, and
people in the grips of addiction.”
She says throughout her career, she “worked with many fine judges
and learned from every one of them.” Her mentors also included
individuals she worked with early in her law career. “My mentors
included Al Olson, who was attorney general and hired me for
my first legal position after law school, and John Olson, who was
state’s attorney and hired me to work as an assistant state’s attorney,”
Hagerty notes.
She encourages young lawyers to examine and pursue the many
opportunities available to them. “I think young lawyers will have
more than one career ahead of them. My advice is to continue to
learn and to seek out new opportunities. Use your legal education
to serve your community and be a voice for the vulnerable. Don’t
limit yourself,” Hagerty says. “Do more than is expected and you will
succeed.”
A Call to Ministry
In 2014, Hagerty became a student of Wartburg Theological
Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. From Nov. 2014 through this May,
8 THE GAVEL