Judge James C. Dever III

Biography

James C. Dever III serves as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina. President George W. Bush nominated Judge Dever (then age 39) in May 2002, and the United States Senate confirmed him by unanimous consent in April 2005. Before serving as a United States District Judge, Judge Dever served as a United States Magistrate Judge for 15 months. He served as Chief Judge from October 2011 through October 2018.

Judge Dever has been an adjunct law professor at Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law since 1997, and a Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke University School of Law since 2008. In 2014, Chief Justice Roberts appointed Judge Dever to serve on the Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules, where Judge Dever served until 2021. In 2022, Chief Justice Roberts appointed Judge Dever as Chair of the Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules, where he served until September 2025.

In October 2025, Chief Justice Roberts appointed Judge Dever to serve as chair of the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure (i.e., the Standing Committee). The Standing Committee supervises the federal judiciary’s rulemaking process and oversees and coordinates the work of the Advisory Committees on the Federal Rules of Evidence and of Appellate, Bankruptcy, Civil and Criminal Procedure.

Judge Dever also has served as a member of Duke Law School’s Board of Visitors and as a member of the Board of Trustees of Belmont Abbey College.

Judge Dever’s chambers are in Raleigh, North Carolina.