Pete Cahill has been a district court judge for the Fourth Judicial District in Minneapolis, Minnesota since 2007. He has served in the criminal division, the juvenile division and in the drug treatment court during his tenure on the bench. He was also the assistant chief judge of the district for two years and served as chief judge of the district for four years. Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Cahill was in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for ten years where he served as a violent crime prosecutor, the head of juvenile prosecution and finally, chief deputy county attorney. He also spent two years as an assistant public defender and eleven years as a litigator in private practice.

Judge Cahill has been an adjunct professor at all three Minnesota law schools where he has taught trial advocacy, legal writing, and advanced criminal procedure. He also is an instructor and mentor judge at the semi-annual Minnesota Judicial Branch new judge training. He has been honored with the American Board of Trial Advocates Minnesota Chapter 2021 Trial Judge of the Year award and the 2016 Hennepin County Bar Association Professionalism Award. In October 2022, he delivered the 141st Justice Jackson Lecture at the National Judicial College.

He is a 1984 magna cum laude and Order of the Coif graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School, and a 1981 graduate of the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts.