Jeff Kritzer was excited to hear he was a finalist for a vacant judge position.

Kritzer, a partner at Baudler, Baudler, Maus & Blahnik LLP in Austin, is among four southern Minnesota candidates announced by the Commission on Judicial Selection Thursday to fill the current vacancy in Minnesota’s 3rd Judicial District, which includes Freeborn, Mower and Steele Counties.

He applied to become a candidate after John Chesterman retired from the court in March. Kritzer can’t say much more than he was very excited to hear the news, as the selection process is ongoing and he is expected to be interviewed by the commission.

“I felt honored to be selected as a finalist,” he said.

Candidate recommendations were sent to Gov. Mark Dayton’s office, according to a press release.

“All of these candidates have a wealth of experience and will be a great asset to the community if selected,” said Randy Kehr, a member of the commission that made the recommendation, in a press release.

Kritzer lives in Moscow Township and practices in both civil and criminal law. Prior to this, he was a corporate attorney for the Hormel Foods Corp. He also serves on the Austin Public School Board and was president of the Austin Area Chamber of Commerce.

Further interviews will be conducted during the next few weeks and the position will ultimately be appointed by the governor.

Dayton stated in a previous news release that he will make the appointment based on integrity, maturity, health, judicial temperament, legal knowledge, ability, experience and community service.