ABOUT JUDGE DER YANG
From Refugee Camp to Ramsey County Courtroom.
Born during the Hmong genocide and raised on St. Paul’s Eastside, Judge Der Yang brings resilience, experience, and a deep commitment to her community.
HER BEGGINING
A Life Shaped by Survival, Family, and Hope.
Judge Der Yang was born on the other side of the world during the genocide of the Hmong people. Her parents, Chue Moua and Bee Yang, had fought alongside Americans in a secret war. When that war was lost, they fled for their lives.
She arrived at Ban Vinai Refugee Camp as a month-old infant, barely breathing. Her mother’s care and her father’s arms helped keep her alive. In that difficult place, her father, a song poet, taught her that words could carry people through even the darkest nights.
COMMUNITY ROOTS
Raised by a Community That Believed in Education.
Judge Yang’s family resettled on St. Paul’s Eastside. As a young girl learning English from scratch, she found her way through reading, writing, quiet determination, and the support of her community.
Her parents worked day and night to provide for their children. Though they could not help with homework because they did not know English, they walked their children to the public library. There, Judge Yang learned that education is a gift given by an entire community.
A CALLING TO SERVICE
A Life Shaped by Community, Law, and Justice.
I LISTEN
As a child, Judge Yang spent her school years reading and writing, and her summers fishing in the lakes and rivers of the Twin Cities.
I APPLY THE LAW
She carried the hope that one day she could help feed her elders with the fish she caught.
I SEE THE HUMANITY
Those early yearnings — to learn and to serve — helped shape the judge she would become. They taught her that dignity, responsibility, and community care are not abstract ideas. They are lived values.
Education is a gift given by an entire community, not just by a teacher or a school.
— Judge Der Yang
ON THE BENCH
Prepared for the Courtroom by Everything She Has Lived.
Judge Yang went on to attend Hamline University and law school. She later built The Village Lawyer, a successful legal practice rooted in a cross-subsidy model. Clients who could afford to pay helped sustain the work. Those who could not afford legal services received the same high-quality representation at no cost. Every person, regardless of ability to pay, received the same excellence, the same preparation, and the same advocacy.
Legal Service
Building a Practice Rooted in Equal Dignity.
Judge Yang went on to attend Hamline University and law school. She later built The Village Lawyer, a successful legal practice rooted in a cross-subsidy model. Clients who could afford to pay helped sustain the work. Those who could not afford legal services received the same high-quality representation at no cost. Every person, regardless of ability to pay, received the same excellence, the same preparation, and the same advocacy.
Present. Prepared. Rooted in Ramsey County.
Judge Yang is asking for your vote not because she is perfect, but because she is present. She is the woman who walks the streets of Ramsey County because she walks them. She knows the struggles of the community because she has shared them. She knows the law because she has dedicated her life to understanding it, applying it, and protecting the Constitution that stands between society and chaos.
