Bogdan to have investiture ceremony tomorrow

Bogdan

Wesley M. Bogdan will have an investiture ceremony tomorrow, Nov. 8, in the Supreme Court courtroom at 10am, to become the newest associate judge of the CNMI Superior Court.

The investiture ceremony will be hosted by the NMI Judiciary, Judicial Council, and Northern Marianas Judiciary Historical Society.

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres nominated Bogdan, 59, to the post last May 12 to fill the vacancy that occurred on the Superior Court bench on May 19, 2016, with the retirement of Associate Judge David A. Wiseman.

Bogdan was the Executive Branch’s legal counsel.

After his nomination, Bogdan appeared before the Senate Committee on Executive Appointment and Government Investigation. Following the committee’s recommendation, the full Senate voted unanimously to confirm Bogdan.

He was commissioned as an associate judge on Aug. 16, with Torres administering his oath of office.

Bogdan worked in the CNMI government as legal counsel to former lieutenant governor Jude U. Hofschneider in 2013 and as legal counsel in the office of former governor Eloy S. Inos and the current governor, Torres, in 2014. He served in this position until his appointment to the Superior Court.

Bogdan obtained his juris doctorate from the University of New Mexico School of Law and bachelor’s degree in business and political science from the University of Texas. He was admitted to the CNMI Bar Association in 1998 and served as a past chairman of the organization’s continuing legal education committee and as a member of the CNMI Bar Association’s Disciplinary Committee.

Bogdan’s law career began after law school as a judicial clerk in his home state of New Mexico for the New Mexico Court of Appeals in Albuquerque, where he worked from 1992 to 1994. He moved to the CNMI thereafter and held assistant attorney general and assistant public defender positions. He also worked in private practice with the Law Offices of Brian McMahon, Eric Smith, Joshua Berger and the O’Connor, Berman, Dotts, and Banes Law Firm.

From 2009 to 2012, Bogdan worked off-island as the deputy director of the legal department for the Asian Football Confederation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

During the last four years in the Executive Branch as legal counsel and senior policy advisoer, Bogdan was involved in all legal issues and environmental matters, particularly with respect to military affairs. He notably assisted with the location and construction of the U.S. Air Force’s Divert Project and the U.S. Marine Corps CNMI Joint Military Training Project.

Bogdan was chief legal counsel to Torres during the Covenant Section 902 consultations that were completed late last year; they were the first to result in a report to the President that has been transmitted to the U.S. Congress.

His activities in the CNMI community have included serving as a judge for mock trial and speech competitions and as an adjunct instructor of business law at Northern Marianas College. Within the local sports community, he has participated as a youth team coach and executive committee member of the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association. (PR)