Jay Quam Reprimanded Retired

Jay Quam, a Hennepin County judge on Minnesota's Fourth Judicial District Court since 2006, was publicly reprimanded by the state Board on Judicial Standards after an investigation found he engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with his own law clerk while she was in his employ -- a relationship that resumed and continued years after she left his staff. The Board also found a broader pattern of sexual harassment, including inappropriate comments to other clerks about their bodies, food intake, and clothing choices, and staffers reporting they overheard what they described as explicit sounds of sexual activity coming from his chambers. Quam retired from the bench on March 7, 2025, shortly before the reprimand was issued. He had no prior disciplinary history with the Board. Public reprimands of Minnesota judges are rare -- the Board's own materials note the only other recent comparable case was a 1980s reprimand of a different Ramsey County judge.