- Donald D. Alsop, federal judge
- Ellen Anderson, Minnesota State Senator
- G. Barry Anderson, Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court
- Paul H. Anderson, Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court
- Russell A. Anderson, former Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court
- Wendell Anderson, former Governor of Minnesota and United States Senator
- Dean Barkley, former United States Senator
- James H. Binger, former Chief Executive Officer, Honeywell, theater entrepreneur
- James J. Blanchard, former Governor of Michigan and U.S. Ambassador to Canada
- Kathleen A. Blatz, former Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court
- Willard L. Boyd, former President, University of Iowa and Field Museum of Natural History
- Myron Bright, former Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- David R. Brink, former President, American Bar Association
- Harrison A. Bronson, former Justice, North Dakota Supreme Court
- Quentin N. Burdick, son of Usher L. Burdick and former United States Senator
- Usher L. Burdick, former United States Representative, Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota, and father of Quentin N. Burdick
- Edward T. Burke, former Justice, North Dakota Supreme Court
- J. A. A. Burnquist, former Governor of Minnesota
- Harlan J. Bushfield, former Governor of South Dakota and United States Senator
- William Canby, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- Phil Carruthers, former Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives
- Ray P. Chase, former United States Congressman (did not graduate)
- Satveer Chaudhary, former Minnesota State Senator
- Theodore Christianson, former Governor of Minnesota and United States Congressman
- Michael Ciresi, trial lawyer
- Alden W. Clausen, former President, World Bank
- Lawrence D. Cohen, former Mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota
- Chris Coleman, Mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota
- Jay Conison, Dean of Law, Valparaiso University
- M. Jeanne Coyne, former Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
- Charles M. Dale, former Governor of New Hampshire
- Norris Darrell, former President, American Law Institute
- Michael J. Davis, federal judge
- Scott H. DeLisi, United States Ambassador to Nepal
- John P. Devaney, former Chief Justice of Minnesota
- Everett Dirksen, former United States Senator (did not graduate)
- Joel Dobris, Professor of Law, University of California, Davis
- David S. Doty, federal judge
- David Durenberger, former United States Senator
- Judi Dutcher, former Minnesota State Auditor
- Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress
- Franklin Ellsworth, former United States Representative
- Matt Entenza, former Minnesota House Minority Leader
- Ralph J. Erickstad, former Chief Justice, North Dakota Supreme Court
- Joan Ericksen, Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota
- Donald M. Fraser, former United States Congressman and Mayor of Minneapolis, son of University of Minnesota Dean of Law Everett Fraser.
- Orville Freeman, former Governor of Minnesota
- Thomas F. Gallagher, former Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
- Sandra Gardebring Ogren, former Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
- Ernest Gellhorn, former Dean of Law, Arizona State University, Case Western Reserve University, and the University of Washington
- James H. Gilbert, former Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
- Godfrey G. Goodwin, former United States Representative
- Henry Norman Graven, former federal judge
- Terrance Hanold, former President of the Pillsbury Company
- Mike Hatch, former Minnesota Attorney General
- William Hawkland, former Chancellor of Louisiana State University
- Douglas M. Head, former Minnesota Attorney General
- Gerald Heaney, former Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- Thomas B. Heffelfinger, notable United States Attorney
- Einar Hoidale, former United States Congressman
- Melissa Hortman, Minnesota State Representative
- Marshall Houts, author
- Hubert "Skip" Humphrey, former Minnesota Attorney General and Minnesota State Senator
- John Hutson, Dean, University of New Hampshire School of Law and former Judge Advocates General of the Navy
- Sly James, Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri
- Scott W. Johnson, conservative blogger
- B. Todd Jones, Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota
- Samuel L. Kaplan, United States Ambassador to Morocco
- Stephen F. Keating, former President, Honeywell
- Fallon Kelly, former Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
- Roger G. Kennedy, polymath best known for being director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and Director of the National Park Service
- Katherine Kersten, conservative columnist
- Ron Kind, United States Congressman (D-WI)
- Robert Kingsley, former Dean, USC Law, and California appellate judge
- Oscar Knutson, former Chief Justice of Minnesota (did not graduate)
- Richard H. Kyle, federal judge
- Joan Ericksen Lancaster, former Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
- Earl R. Larson, former federal judge
- Jane Larson, former Professor of Law, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Thomas E. Latimer, former Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Harold LeVander, former Governor of Minnesota
- John Lind, former Governor of Minnesota
- Henry Linde, former North Dakota Attorney General
- Miles Lord, former Minnesota Attorney General and U.S. District Court Judge
- Charles Loring, former Chief Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
- Ernest Lundeen, former United States Senator
- William Paul Luther, former United States Congressman
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- Tom McDonald, former U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe
- Clark MacGregor, former United States Representative
- George MacKinnon, former Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- Harry H. MacLaughlin, former federal judge
- James Manahan, former United States Representative
- Carlos Mariani, Minnesota State Representative (did not graduate)
- Edmon Marukyan, member of the National Assembly of Armenia
- Leroy E. Matson, former Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
- Robert W. Mattson, Sr., former Minnesota Attorney General
- Richard C. Maxwell, former Dean of Law, UCLA
- Geoff Michel, Minnesota State Senator
- Clarence B. Miller, former United States Representative
- William D. Mitchell, former Attorney General of the United States
- Richard Moe, former President, National Trust for Historic Preservation
- Walter Mondale, former Vice President of the United States and United States Ambassador to Japan.
- Ann D. Montgomery, federal judge
- Wayne Morse, former United States Senator
- Mee Moua, former Minnesota State Senator
- Joe Mullery, Minnesota State Representative
- Diana E. Murphy, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- Philip Neville, former federal judge
- Constance Berry Newman, former United States Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
- Walter Newton, former United States Representative
- Gunnar Nordbye, former federal judge
- Dave Olin, former Minnesota State Representative
- Julius J. Olson, former Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
- Vance Opperman, former president of West Publishing Company
- James C. Otis, former Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
- Mabeth Hurd Paige, one of the first four woman elected to Minnesota Legislature in 1923
- Alan Page, Pro Football Hall of Famer and Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court
- Mary Pawlenty, former First Lady of Minnesota and former judge
- Tim Pawlenty, President, Financial Services Roundtable and former Governor of Minnesota
- Harry H. Peterson, former Minnesota Attorney General and Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court
- John S. Pillsbury, Jr., former President, Northwestern National Life Insurance Company
- Maynard Pirsig, former Dean, University of Minnesota Law School, former temporary Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, and father of Robert M. Pirsig
- Daniel D. Polsby, Dean of Law, George Mason University
- Albert F. Pratt, former Minnesota Attorney General and member of Minnesota House of Representatives
- J. A. O. Preus, former Governor of Minnesota
- William Prosser, former Dean of Law, University of California, Berkeley, author of Prosser on Torts
- Milton D. Purdy, former federal judge, served on United States Court for China
- William John Quinn, former President, Milwaukee Road
- Greg Raymer, 2004 World Series of Poker Champion
- A. J. Rockne, former Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives and longest serving member
- James M. Rosenbaum, federal judge
- Millard Ruud, former Executive Director, Association of American Law Schools
- Allan Ryan, Director of Intellectual Property, Harvard Business School Publishing, Harvard University
- Elmer Ryan, former United States Representative
- Irving S. Shapiro, former CEO, DuPont
- Robert Sheran, former Chief Justice of Minnesota
- Harry A. Sieben, former Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives
- Gerald Edward Sikorski, former United States Congressman
- Steve Simon, Minnesota State Representative
- John E. Simonett, former Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court
- Ballard F. Smith, former President, San Diego Padres
- George Ross Smith, former United States Representative
- Arne Sorenson, CEO of Marriott International
- Warren Spannaus, former Minnesota Attorney General
- Daniel J. Starks, Chief Executive Officer, St. Jude Medical
- Harold Stassen, former Governor of Minnesota; former President, University of Pennsylvania
- Melvin Steen, founding partner, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Robert Stein (academic), former Executive Director, American Bar Association, former Dean, University of Minnesota Law School
- McCants Stewart, first African American LL.M. recipient, first African American lawyer in Oregon
- Royal A. Stone, former Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court (did not graduate)
- Thomas O. Streissguth, former Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
- Edward C. Stringer, former Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
- George F. Sullivan, former federal judge
- Michael P. Sullivan, former President, Dairy Queen
- Dave Thompson, Minnesota State Senator
- John J. Todd, former Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
- John R. Tunheim, federal judge
- Bruce Marion Van Sickle, former federal judge, member of North Dakota House of Representatives
- Charles Joseph Vogel, former Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- Charlie Weaver, Jr., former Minnesota State Representative, Governor's Chief of Staff
- John Francis Wheaton, first African American graduate, first African American member of the Minnesota Legislature
- Benson Whitney, former United States Ambassador to Norway
- Samuel B. Wilson, former Justice, Minnesota Supreme Court
- Ryan Winkler, Minnesota State Representative
- Sandra Casber Wise, former First Lady of West Virginia
- Michael A. Wolff, former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Missouri
- Michael W. Wright, former CEO, Supervalu (United States)
- Lawrence R. Yetka, former Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court
- George M. Young, former United States Representative
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