2008 Candidate Forums: Third Congressional District with Ashwin Madia

Ashwin Madia

Ashwin Madia was raised in Plymouth, Minnesota. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota and a law degree from New York University Law School. After law school, Madia joined the U.S. Marine Corps and moved to Quantico, Virginia. His first duty station was Okinawa, Japan, where he served as a prosecutor, defense counsel, and legal advisor to a Marine Corps commander. Madia served in Iraq, stationed primarily in Baghdad in 2005 and 2006. He worked with U.S. military and civilian officials, European Union and United Nations representatives, and Iraqi judicial officers on the Integrated Rule-of-Law Mission. He also briefed top U.S. generals on the status of rule of law efforts in the country. Madia finished active duty with the Marine Corps on July 4, 2006. He returned to Minnesota and began practicing law at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, LLP. As an attorney in private practice, Madia represented clients in disputes over intellectual property and other business issues. He also performed free legal work as an advocate for victims of domestic violence and for a victim of torture seeking asylum in the United States. Madia is the DFL candidate for MN’s 3^rd Congressional District, an open seat after Representative Ramstad announced he would not seek reelection in 2008.