The State Bar Association of North Dakota Spring 2015 Gavel Magazine | Page 7

“We don’t see a lawyer doing that very
often – devoting his entire career to
social justice.”
Rich LeMay, Interim Executive Director,
Legal Services of North Dakota

Jim Fitzsimmons, who devoted four decades to
working with North Dakota’s low-income and
underserved populations, died March 30 in Mandan.

JIM FITZSIMMONS REMEMBERED
FOR HIS COMMITMENT TO ‘JUSTICE
FOR ALL IN NORTH DAKOTA
’

The man who devoted his entire legal
career to North Dakota’s low-income
and underserved populations is being
remembered as a national expert who
developed one of the most successful
statewide legal services programs in the
nation.

Legal Services of North Dakota Executive
Director Jim Fitzsimmons died unexpectedly
at the age of 62 on March 30. The
outpouring of condolences since his death
has come from people across the state and
around the country.
“I knew Jim was admired by a lot of people,
but I had no idea how many we would hear
from,” said Rich LeMay, LSND interim
executive director from the agency’s Minot
office. “He was nationally known for his
expertise in Indian law and admired as a
legal services program administrator. Our
offices are fully staffed and we are managing

well, but it will take some time for us to
adjust to working without Jim.”

A single focus in his career
While he could have taken his legal career
in many other directions, LeMay said
Fitzsimmons had one single focus. “The
only careers he had in his life were road
construction while a student and social
justice as a lawyer. We don’t see a lawyer
doing that very often – devoting his entire
career to social justice.”
A Mandan native, Fitzsimmons was raised
there and in Dickinson, where he graduated
from high school. He earned a bachelor’s
degree from the University of North Dakota
prior to attending UND Law School.
Upon becoming a lawyer in 1976 he began
working with North Dakota Legal Services
on the Fort Berthold Reservation.

Ed Reinhardt, a senior attorney for LSND
who works in the New Town and Belcourt
offices, says Fitzsimmons taught him all he
knew about Indian law. “Another major
accomplishment was successfully leading
the consolidation of North Dakota’s two
legal services programs. There is often
bloodshed with consolidations like this, but
ours was smooth.”
The consolidation of North Dakota
Legal Services and Legal Assistance of
North Dakota began in 2002 and was
completed January 1, 2004. Fitzsimmons,
who became the executive director of the
new consolidated agency, believed that
one agency was the best way to deliver the
most cost-effective services in a state.
LeMay said many states are unable to
accomplish this. “New Jersey has 15 legal
services programs, and Minnesota has
three or four. South Dakota still has two
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