Former Hennepin County District Judge Jay Quam, who retired last month, has been publicly reprimanded by the Minnesota Board on Judicial Standards after its investigation concluded he engaged in a sexual relationship with his law clerk and made inappropriate and sexually suggestive comments to other clerks.

Quam was appointed to the Fourth Judicial District bench in 2006 and stepped aside March 7 in the midst of the board’s investigation, which concluded that he violated the Minnesota Judicial Council’s harassment policy.

The board began the investigation after receiving a complaint concerning Quam’s conduct. He cooperated with the case and did not demand a formal complaint and public hearing. He admitted that he engaged in the misconduct outlined in the public reprimand, which was issued Friday.

Quam, 62, did not return a Friday phone call seeking comment. The reprimand notes that Quam “agrees to refrain from making any public statement that tends to justify, excuse, or contradict the facts, conclusion, or determinations” of the investigation.

The reprimand says Quam engaged in inappropriate sexual contact with his law clerk for a period of time of her employment. The judge and clerk were seen by court employees and justice partners in and around the courthouse “without any apparent business reason,” the reprimand says.

Several years after she left the job, the relationship was renewed and continued until recently. In 2022 and early 2023, on at least three occasions, a court staff person overheard explicit sounds of sexual activity while Quam and his former clerk were in his chambers.

Within the past year, an attorney saw Quam and his former clerk “canoodling” outside the courthouse, sitting close together with hands on each other’s knees, the reprimand says.

Inappropriate comments

Quam’s inappropriate comments to other clerks included telling one that he would like to go to happy hour with her to “see another side of her after a few drinks,” according to the reprimand.

While looking another clerk up and down, Quam said, “Yeah, you definitely have a runner’s body.”

Quam commented to a clerk that she looked great for just having a baby.

He commented on clerks’ clothing in an awkward or flirtatious way, and offered compliments about food intake and appearance.

One clerk estimated that Quam made 50 to 60 inappropriate comments to her during her employment.

Quam would also stand “unnecessarily close” to clerks, or “leer” at them in a way that made them feel uncomfortable.

‘Substantial harm’

In response to Quam’s conduct, clerks began to wear longer skirts, avoided his invitations to coffee or lunch and acted in an “extra-professional way” to avoid attracting unwanted attention.

“Clerks are fearful that Judge Quam may have an impact on their career and expressed uncertainty about including him as a reference,” the reprimand says.

Quam has otherwise enjoyed a “good reputation” throughout his career and does not have a disciplinary record with the board, according to the reprimand.

“However, the degree of notoriety and effect of his misconduct has damaged the public’s confidence in the integrity of the judiciary,” it continues. “Judge Quam’s misconduct was serious and caused substantial harm to the court clerks and staff.”

If Quam had not retired, the board may have sought more serious discipline, the reprimand says.

Established by the state legislature in 1972, the Board on Judicial Standards is an independent state agency made up of volunteer members — four judges, four public members and two lawyers — that responds to allegations that may violate the Code of Judicial Conduct. Violations include improper courtroom behavior, gender or racial bias, conflicts of interests or other improprieties. Besides a reprimand, the board can recommend that the state Supreme Court remove a judge.

Quam is not the first Minnesota judge to be reprimanded over sexual harassment. In 1989, the state Supreme Court suspended Ramsey County District Judge Alberto Miera for one year for allegedly making sexual advances to his court reporter.