Office Hours
By Appointment
Education
JD, Cumberland School of Law at Samford University
BA, Auburn University
About Me
Richard J. Minor was elected to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals on November 6, 2018. Prior to his election, Judge Minor was the District Attorney for St. Clair County.
Judge Minor graduated from Auburn University in 1990 (B.A. in Criminal Justice, summa cum laude) and from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in 1993. During law school, Judge Minor was a member of the American Journal of Trial Advocacy, served as a Cordell Hull Teaching Fellow for first-year law students, and was a Samford Senator.
Judge Minor began his career as a public servant, serving first as an Assistant District Attorney in both Tuscaloosa County and Jefferson County and then as an Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Trials and Violent Crimes Divisions under Alabama Attorneys General Jeff Sessions and Bill Pryor, Jr. Judge Minor served as the Chief Trial Attorney in the St. Clair County District Attorney’s Office before being elected District Attorney in 2004. In 2006, he was appointed as a Special Prosecutor and Acting Attorney General for the State of Alabama overseeing the State of Alabama’s interest in a joint federal and state investigation of public corruption in the Post-Secondary System of Alabama.
As District Attorney, Judge Minor was a founding member of the St. Clair County Community Corrections and Punishment Authority, which helped establish a Community Corrections program, an Adult Drug Court, a Veterans Court, and a Mental Health Court. He was an active member of the Alabama District Attorneys Association where he was elected by his peers as President, Vice President, and Secretary/Treasurer of the association.
Judge Minor currently serves as Chairman of the State of Alabama Advisory Committee on Criminal Procedure. He has also served on the Governor’s Advisory Council on Juvenile Justice, the Governor’s Juvenile Crime Enforcement Coalition, the Alabama Sentencing Commission Standards Committee, the Alabama Pattern Jury Instructions (Criminal) Committee, and the Review Committee for Alabama’s Protocol for the Examination and Treatment of Sexual Assaults. He is a member of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.
Judge Minor is a member of the Lee County and Alabama Bar Associations. He is admitted to practice in the Northern District Court of Alabama and in the Supreme Court of the United States. He is an alumnus of the National College of District Attorneys, the National Advocacy Center, and Leadership Alabama.
Courses Taught
POLI 2300: Introduction to the Legal Profession
POLI 5570: Legal Research & Writing