Hon. Rachel C. Hughey is a judge for the 4th Judicial District Court of Minnesota in Hennepin County. She was appointed to the bench by Governor Tim Walz in 2021, filling the vacancy created by the retirement of the Hon. Margaret A. Daly (Ret.).
Prior to her appointment, Hughey was a partner and shareholder at Merchant & Gould in Minneapolis (2008 to 2021), where she litigated complex commercial disputes in state and federal courts in Minnesota and across the country. She also served as chair of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee, co-chair of its Appellate Group, chair of the Strategic Planning Committee, and chair of its Women’s Initiative. She began her legal career with the firm in 2003 and remained in practice there for two years before later returning in 2008.
Her time at the firm was punctuated with her practice as an associate at Carlson Caspers Vandenburgh & Lindquist, P.A. (2006 to 2008) and a one-year clerkship with the Hon. Alvin A. Schall of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Court (2005 to 2006).
Hughey received a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2000. She went on to complete a J.D. at the University of Minnesota Law School in 2003. Hughey sat on the Law Review and was a member of the Student Intellectual Property Law Association.
She was admitted to practice in Minnesota (2003), the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota (2003), the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (2004), the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (2006), and the United States Supreme Court (2007).
Her memberships have included the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the Federal Bar Association, the Hennepin County Bar Association (board member), the Honorable Jimmie V. Reyna Intellectual Property American Inn of Court (co-founder and past president), the Minnesota Women Lawyers, and the Federal Circuit Bar Association.
Hughey served on the Editorial Board for the “Quarterly Journal” and “The Federal Lawyer” (Editor-in-Chief).
She has been involved with the ACLU (board member), the Minnesota Young American Leaders Program, the Simpson Housing Services Board, the University of Minnesota Law School Board of Advisors, the University of Minnesota Law Review Alumni Advisory Board, the Volunteer Lawyers Network (board member), and YouthCARE (board member).
Hughey also provided pro bono legal assistance as a volunteer attorney for The Advocates for Human Rights, the Children’s Law Center of Minnesota, and the Volunteer Lawyers Network.
She has taught as an instructor at the University of Minnesota Law School and the University of St. Thomas.
Among her accolades, Hughey received the Excellence Award for Mentoring in the Profession from the Hennepin County Bar Association (2020) and was named an Attorney of the Year by the “Minnesota Lawyer” (2017).