Based in the Sixth Judicial District, the Iron Range Equal Justice Committee, in partnership with Voices for Ethnic and Multicultural Awareness, is hosting an upcoming listening session meant to cultivate relationships by talking about racial issues.
The event, named âConversation with the Courts,â is scheduled to run from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 6.
Seraphia Gravelle, a co-founder of VEMA, said over the phone Thursday that she was invited to join the committee âto bring people of color from the community to the tables to tell their stories in regards to their experiences with the justice system on every level.â She described how she agreed to join the event, because she thought âthis was a great idea as far as citizens to understand the justice system and for people working in the system to hear their stories.â
Tracy Rae Podpeskar, a mother, attorney and partner of Trenti Law Firm in Virginia, died on Dec. 4. She was 43.
In her profession, Podpeskar was perhaps best known for carving her own path at the law firm from her beginnings as a legal secretary to law student intern to associate attorney and then to partner in 2012. âTracy practiced family law at the highest level, both as a skilled and zealous litigator for her clients and as a talented and effective mediator,â according to her obituary.
Her impressive resume shows that she was a member of the American Bar Association and the Minnesota Bar Association. She was a mentor with the Upward Bound Mentor Program. She was a member and past president of the Range Bar Association and served as the chair of the Range Ethics Committee. She served on the board of directors and as board chair of the Apple Tree Learning Center. She was a board member of the Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota and she was named a North Star Law