 | Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Richard Dietz" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(March 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Richard Dietz | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Associate Justice of theNorth Carolina Supreme Court | |
| Assumed office January 1, 2023 | |
| Preceded by | Robin E. Hudson |
| Judge on theNorth Carolina Court of Appeals | |
| In office September 8, 2014 – December 31, 2022 | |
| Appointed by | Pat McCrory |
| Preceded by | Robert N. Hunter Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Allison Riggs |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Richard Donald Dietz (1977-02-01)February 1, 1977 (age 48) Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Kelley Dietz |
| Education | Shippensburg University (BA) Wake Forest University (JD) Duke University (LLM) |
Richard Donald Dietz[1] (born February 1, 1977) is a judge on theNorth Carolina Supreme Court, having been elected in 2022. He previously served on theNorth Carolina Court of Appeals after being appointed by GovernorPat McCrory to fill the vacant seat created by the elevation ofRobert N. Hunter, Jr. to theNorth Carolina Supreme Court.[2]
Dietz grew up in a smallPennsylvania Dutch family with roots in the mountains of north central Pennsylvania. He is aLutheran. He comes from a family ofrailroad and telephone workers and was the first in his family to attend college.[3]
Dietz is married to Kelley Dietz, aRoanoke, Virginia native. The couple were married in Wait Chapel on the campus ofWake Forest University. They now live inRaleigh, North Carolina.
Dietz earned hisbachelor's degree in business fromShippensburg University in 1999, graduatingsumma cum laude and serving as president of the University Honors Program. He then graduated first in his class fromWake Forest University School of Law in 2002 and served as research editor of theWake Forest Law Review. Dietz attended both Wake Forest Law School and Shippensburg University on full academic scholarships.[3]
After law school, Dietz was alaw clerk for JudgeSamuel G. Wilson of theUnited States District Court for the Western District of Virginia from 2002 to 2003 and JudgeH. Emory Widener Jr. of theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 2003 to 2004.
Following his clerkships, Dietz served as aresearch fellow atKyushu University inJapan from 2004 to 2006, where he studied comparative and international law issues including theHague Service Convention and the global implications of theSarbanes-Oxley Act.
Dietz began his private law practice in 2006 as anassociate atCovington & Burling, a large law firm inWashington, D.C. After two years in Washington, Dietz returned toWinston-Salem, North Carolina and became apartner atKilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, a 650-lawyer international law firm with its roots in North Carolina.
Dietz handled a number of high-profile appeals in private practice. He argued at theSupreme Court of the United States inAbramski v. United States, 134 S.Ct. 2259 (2014),[4] a prominent gun law case that addressed the scope of the straw man purchaser doctrine. Dietz also represented a class of hundreds of thousands ofNative American in several appeals in theCobell v. Salazar (1996) litigation involving the U.S. government's mismanagement of Indian trust money.
Dietz previously served as Vice Chair of theNorth Carolina Bar Association's Appellate Practice Section and currently serves on the Appellate Section Council and the Appellate Rules Committee. In 2013, he was appointed to a four-year term on the North Carolina Courts Commission, a group of judges, lawyers, legislators, and private citizens who study and recommend changes to the court system. He is a permanent member of the Fourth Circuit Judicial Conference and a member of the Appellate Judges Conference of theAmerican Bar Association. He is also a member of the Chief Justice Joseph Branch chapter of theAmerican Inns of Court.[3]
Dietz is a North Carolina board certified specialist in Appellate Practice and one of only 27 board certified specialists inNorth Carolina.[5] He was one of only two appellate specialists on the 15-memberNorth Carolina Court of Appeals.
Dietz was named one of "40 Leaders Under Forty" by the Triad Business Journal in 2014.[6]
Dietz was listed in the 2012, 2013, and 2014 editions of North Carolina Super Lawyers magazine as a "Rising Star" in the area of Appellate Law.[7]
Dietz received the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award from Shippensburg University in 2014.[8]
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Associate Justice of theNorth Carolina Supreme Court 2023–present | Incumbent |
Statewide political officials ofNorth Carolina | ||
|---|---|---|
| U.S. senators |  | |
| State government | ||
| Senate |
| |
| House |
| |
| Supreme Court (elected) | ||