Elizabeth V. Cutter

Elizabeth Cutter has been a trial lawyer since 1980 and has a broad legal background.  She provides experience-based conflict resolution through an efficient, timely, individually tailored, and confidential process in a variety of civil matters.  Her practice is focused on assisting families resolve disputes in the areas of probate and family law as a consensual special master, arbitrator, and mediator.

Experience

• Senior District Court Judge, July 2022 – present
• Fourth Judicial District Judge
  • Family Court 2019-2022
  • Presiding Judge, Probate/Mental Health Court 2016-2019
  • Assistant Presiding Judge, Criminal Court 2014-2016
  • Presided over pretrials, court trials, and jury trials involving trusts, estates, guardianships, conservatorships, dissolutions (with and without children), maintenance, child support, and asset division, as well as criminal trials
  • Currently serves as a Senior Judge throughout Minnesota

Current Activities

• Qualified Neutral under Rule 114
• University of Minnesota Law School, Adjunct Professor, Alternative Dispute Resolution 2024 – present
• Chapter co-author for Minnesota State Bar Association Trusts and Estates Litigation Deskbook 2024
• Chair, Minnesota Judicial Branch District Court Judges’ Domestic and Sexual Violence Training Team
• Minnesota Family Law Appellate Mediation Program, Mediator 2024 – present
• Frequent presenter at the Fall Judicial Conference and Winter Conference for Minnesota District Court Judges
• Frequent CLE presenter on Estate, Guardianship. Conservatorship, Trust, and ADR
• Frequent trainer for judges, prosecutors, police, and advocates locally, nationally, and internationally on matters relating to gender-based violence

Past Experience and Activities

• Senior Hennepin County Attorney, supervised a team of trial lawyers and handled a substantial caseload of adult felony offenses.
• Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Minnesota, represented the Departments of Human Rights, Human Services, and Trade and Economic Development in state and federal court as well as before the Office of Administrative Hearings.
• Appointed by Chief Justices Kathleen Blatz and Lori Gildea to the Rules of Evidence Committee
• Co-chair, Family Violence Coordinating Council
• Chair, Domestic Violence Steering Committee
• Member, Hennepin County’s Fatality Review Team
• Member, 4th Judicial District Education Committee
• Member, Minnesota Judicial Branch Education and Training Committee
• Member, Minnesota Judicial Branch District Court Judges’ Domestic Violence Training Team responsible for training all new judges on matters relating to domestic violence and protective orders

Education

• University of Minnesota (Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees)
• William Mitchell College of Law (now Mitchell-Hamline College of Law), cum laude, Editor, William Mitchell Law Review

Community Activities

• Minnesota State Bar Association (member of the Family Law, Probate & Trust Litigation, and Mental Health sections (Co-chair of the Judicial Committee of the Mental Health section)
• Hennepin County Bar Association (two six-year terms on the district ethics committee)
• Minnesota Women Lawyers (past president, current member of the Advisory Board)
• Past Board and Committee member of Minnesota Comprehensive Health Association
• Recipient of Volunteer of the Year from the Advocates for Human Rights