Riverland Community College

Judge Mott grew up in Albert Lea, Minnesota, graduated with an A.A. from Austin State Junior College (now Riverland Community College) in 1970, and received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota in 1972. He obtained his J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law in 1976. He practiced law in St. Paul as a sole practitioner and part-time Assistant Ramsey County Public Defender from 1976 until his appointment to the District Court bench by Governor Rudy Perpich in 1988. He was subsequently elected in 1990, 1996, 2002, and 2008.

With encouragement from several faculty members at ASJC, Judge Mott became involved in politics during his college years. He worked on various local and state campaigns starting in 1970, was a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention, and served on the campaign staff of presidential candidate Sen. George McGovern in that year. In 1974, he was elected as Secretary of the Minnesota State DFL Party and served in that position for many years.

He has taught in various capacities in the William Mitchell clinical program and legal practicum, as well as the law enforcement program at Century College. Judge Mott served as the Assistant Chief Judge for the 2nd Judicial District, Ramsey County, from 1998 to 2002, and as Chief Judge from 2002 to 2004. From 2001 to 2004, he was the Chair of the Conference of Chief Judges for the State of Minnesota dealing with budget and policy issues for the trial courts in Minnesota. Chief Justice A. M. Keith assigned all asbestos-related cases in the State of Minnesota to Judge Mott. He handled these cases for eight years. He was also appointed to the national Mass Tort Litigation Committee formed by the Conference of Chief Justices of the United States. He also chaired the Race Data Collection Work Group, which was responsible for developing and implementing a system to collect race census information on all criminal, traffic, and juvenile cases in the Minnesota State Courts.

Judge Mott has been a leader on various Judicial Branch committees dealing with technology issues in the courts including serving as a member of the Policy Group of CriMNet, which is Minnesota's effort to establish electronic information sharing among criminal justice agencies. He has lectured on complex civil litigation, criminal case calendaring systems, case management, the insanity defense, sentencing sex offenders, as well as courtroom and courthouse design. In 2007, he was an invited presenter at the 6th International Conference on Courthouse Design sponsored by the American Institute of Architects.

In 2000, the Minnesota District Judges Association gave him the Outstanding Service Award for contributing to the improvement of the judicial system.

Shortly after its formation, Judge Mott was assigned to preside over Ramsey County's DWI Court as part of his judicial duties. He was instrumental in developing DWI Court into a successful program that has dramatically reduced the re-offense rate of people with multiple DWIs. In 2008, he was given one of the Statewide Recognition Awards from MADD for his work on the DWI Court. Judge Mott has served in the Family, Criminal and Civil Divisions of the District Court during his career. He also currently serves on various judicial committees.

Among others, his community and professional involvements have included:

Member, Ramsey County Community Corrections Advisory Board

Board of Directors, Criminal Defense Services Project

Board of Directors - Summit-University Teen Center

Board of Directors - Canabury Square Condominium Association

Board of Directors - Community Associations Institute

Member, CriMNet Task Force

Court Transformation Work Group – Appointed by Chief Justice Blatz to recommend a new governance structure for the Minnesota Judicial Branch following the change from county to state funding of the Courts

Member, Weighted Caseload Committee

Member, Minnesota State Court System Inter-Court Committee

Member, Court Technology Planning Committee

Member, Minnesota State Court System Strategic Planning Committee

Member, Supreme Court Guardian Ad Litem Task Force

Chair, Ramsey County Committee that developed and implemented the Fast Track Drug Program

Chair, Ramsey District Court Criminal Calendar Committee responsible for revising the criminal trial schedule in Ramsey County and taking it from the slowest in the state to the fastest

Faculty - New Judge Orientation Program, Minnesota Supreme Court Continuing Education