BISMARCK, N.D. – Gov. Doug Burgum has appointed Bismarck attorney and former North Dakota solicitor general Douglas Bahr to a judgeship in the South Central Judicial District, effective Sept. 1.
Bahr will fill the post vacated by Judge Sonna Anderson when she retired June 30 after serving as a South Central Judicial District judge since 2003. Bahr will be chambered in Bismarck.
Bahr’s extensive legal experience spans 27 years of litigation practice, including more than 25 years in state government. In the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office, he was an assistant attorney general from 1991 to 1998 and director of the Civil Litigation Division from 1999 to 2016, during which time he served as solicitor general, the chief civil litigator for the State of North Dakota. Bahr has appeared at the North Dakota Supreme Court more than 80 times, either through brief or oral argument, and 18 times at the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. He joined the Crowley Fleck PLLP law firm as special counsel in December 2016.
Bahr earned his law degree in 1990 from the University of South Dakota School of Law in Vermillion and a bachelor’s degree in family science in 1987 from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He is a current member of the Board of Governors for the State Bar Association of North Dakota and previously served as president of the association’s ethics committee. He also is a former bar association president for the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In addition to his work as an attorney, Bahr taught business law and government courses as an adjunct faculty member at Bismarck State College from 2008 to 2016. He also volunteers with the Boy Scouts and is active as a volunteer teacher and leader in his church.