RICHARD D. BENNETT
District Judge Richard D. Bennett was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1947. Judge Bennett received a B.A. Degree from the University of
Pennsylvania in 1969. After a period of active duty with the United States Army,
he achieved his J.D. in 1973 from the University of Maryland School of Law,
where he served as a Member of the Maryland Law Review.
Following law school, Judge Bennett entered the Baltimore law firm of Smith,
Somerville & Case. In l976 he was appointed as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for
Maryland and remained in that position until 1981 when he returned to private
practice.
In 1991 Judge Bennett was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the United States
Attorney for the District of Maryland. In that position he received the
Outstanding Service Award from the Maryland State’s Attorneys Association and
the award from the Governor of Maryland for outstanding contributions in the
field of victim rights.
In 1993 Judge Bennett returned to private practice as a partner at the law firm
of Miles and Stockbridge, where he headed that firm’s white collar criminal
defense and government investigations practice. In 2002, he was recognized by a
respected national publication as one of the “Best Lawyers in America.” During
his tenure with the firm, Judge Bennett was also retained by the U.S. House of
Representatives as Special Counsel to an investigation of foreign campaign
contributions. In addition to his active federal trial practice, he was the
1994 Republican candidate for Attorney General of Maryland and the 1998
Republican candidate for Lt. Governor.
On January 29, 2003, Judge Bennett was nominated by President George W. Bush to
a vacant seat on the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.
With the strong support of U.S. Senators Paul S. Sarbanes and Barbara A.
Mikulski, his nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and he received his
commission on April 10, 2003.
Judge Bennett served over 20 years in the U.S. Army Reserve and Maryland
National Guard, and is a Major in the Retired Reserve. He received the Maryland
Commendation Medal for Outstanding Service, the Maryland Distinguished Service
Cross for Service Beyond the Call of Duty and the Meritorious Service Medal.
Judge Bennett is a member of the American Bar Association, the Maryland State
Bar Association, and a life member of the Maryland Chapter of the Federal Bar
Association. He is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Maryland Bar Foundation and a member of
numerous law clubs and legal societies. He is on the Maryland Steering Committee
of the Russian-American Rule of Law Consortium, an exchange program between the
Russian and American judiciary. He served on the Board of Trustees of Severn
School from 1993 to 2002, and in 2003 received the school’s Distinguished
Alumnus Award. He served on the Board of Trustees of the Kennedy-Krieger
Institute for Disabled Children 2002-03 and is on the Board of Visitors of the
University of Maryland School of Law.