Walz appoints Beltrami County attorney Symon Schindler-Syme to district court bench

Beltrami County is losing one of its criminal and appellate lawyers to the bench, a move that could ripple through the county attorney’s office as Symon Schindler-Syme takes a district court seat in Minnesota’s Ninth Judicial District.

Gov. Tim Walz appointed Schindler-Syme on April 9 to fill a vacancy in Crookston, in Polk County, replacing Judge Jeffrey S. Remick. The appointment also filled a second Ninth Judicial District opening in Warren, in Marshall County, with Max Schafer-LaCoursiere. The district spans northwestern Minnesota, so the decision reaches well beyond Bemidji even as it pulls from Beltrami County’s own legal ranks.

In the Beltrami County Attorney’s Office, Schindler-Syme handled criminal and appellate cases. That makes his departure more than a personnel change: the office serves as chief legal counsel to the county board and prosecutes criminal and juvenile matters within its authority, so losing an experienced attorney can affect case flow, continuity and institutional memory inside county government.

Schindler-Syme’s path to the bench also reflects the broader legal network tying Beltrami County to the rest of the Ninth Judicial District. He previously worked as an assistant public defender in the district, was an assistant county attorney in the Pennington County Attorney’s Office, and served as a judicial law clerk to Judge Tamara L. Yon in the Ninth Judicial District. That mix of prosecution, defense and clerking experience gives him a background that will now shape courtroom decisions from the other side of the bench.

The vacancy he will fill was first announced by the Minnesota Commission on Judicial Selection on Jan. 29, after the elevation of Judge Anne M. Rasmusson to the Minnesota Court of Appeals and Remick’s retirement. Remick had served on the Ninth Judicial District bench since 2006, after practicing law from 1989 to 2006, including at Reed and Pond and then at Odland, Fitzgerald, Reynolds and Remick.

Under Minnesota’s judicial appointment process, Schindler-Syme will still have to stand for election district-wide in the next general election more than one year after he is sworn in. For Beltrami County, the appointment is a reminder that the local courthouse can produce attorneys who move into larger regional roles, while also leaving a visible gap in the day-to-day work of the county attorney’s office.