The Hon. Lindsey R. Nieuwsma is a judge for the North Dakota South Central Judicial District. She was appointed to the bench by Governor Doug Gurgum on September 1, 2021, filling a vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. John W. Grinsteiner.
The South Central Judicial District includes Burleigh County, Emmons County, Grant County, McLean County, Mercer County, Morton County, Oliver County, Sioux County, and Sheridan County.
Prior to her appointment, Nieuwsma was a judicial referee and magistrate for the South Central Judicial District, a position to which she was named in 2018. Before that, she spent time as a staff attorney for the North Dakota State Court Administrator’s Office (2015 to 2018) as well as an attorney in private practice (2010 to 2015).
Nieuwsma earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from North Dakota State University in 2006. She then completed a J.D. at the University of Minnesota Law School in 2010.
Her memberships have included the North Dakota Supreme Court’s Judicial Standards Committee; the Court Improvement Project Subcommittee of the Supreme Court’s Indian Child Welfare Act Workgroup; and the Juvenile Justice Services Planning Committee for the Commission on Juvenile Justice.
Born in Belfield, North Dakota, Nieuwsma was raised near Grassy Butte.