Governor McCrory will appoint Richard Dietz to fill Court of Appeals vacancy | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Raleigh, NC     Governor Pat McCrory announced today that he will appoint Winston-Salem lawyer Richard Dietz to the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Dietz will fill the seat of Judge Bob Hunter, Jr., who will become a Justice on the North Carolina Supreme Court on September 6.

    "Richard Dietz has an esteemed legal record and an extensive background in appellate practice," said Governor McCrory. "His experience, service on the North Carolina Courts Commission and involvement in his community will make him a valuable addition to the Court of Appeals."

    Dietz, a North Carolina board-certified specialist in appellate practice, is a partner in the Winston-Salem office of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP and a member of the firm's Appellate and Supreme Court team. He is vice chair of the Appellate Practice Section of the North Carolina Bar Association and is a long-serving member of the Bar Association's Appellate Rules Committee. In 2013, Governor McCrory appointed Dietz to the North Carolina Courts Commission, which studies the court system and recommends changes and improvements. He is also a strong advocate of pro bono volunteer legal work, spending over 1,000 hours providing free appellate work to low-income families, indigent criminal defendants and nonprofits that assist the less fortunate in the last three years.

    Dietz graduated first in his class from Wake Forest University School of Law. After law school, he was a law clerk for Judge Samuel Wilson on the U.S. District Court in Virginia and Judge Emory Widener on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He then worked as a research fellow in comparative and international law at Kyushu University in Japan before returning to the U.S. to begin his career as an appellate attorney.

    Dietz is also an active member of his community. He serves on the philanthropy committee of Crisis Control Ministry, a Winston-Salem nonprofit for those in need, and is involved in several groups that connect and advocate for young people.

• Contact: Crystal Feldman
•     govpress@nc.gov