Richard D. Bennett (born August 12, 1947) is a United States Senior District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland. Born in Maryland, Bennett is a graduate of Severn School, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. He previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney and the United States Attorney for Maryland, and was awarded multiple commendations for his service. In private practice, Bennett was a partner in a major Maryland law firm, where he specialized in white collar criminal defense. Appointed to the federal bench in 2003, he took senior status in 2021. While maintaining an active trial docket in the District of Maryland, Bennett has increasingly been sitting by designation with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 1/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 5/year
Maryland District Court · 2003–Maryland District Court · 2003–2021
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
- Private practice, Maryland1973–1976, 1981–1991, 1993–2003
- Maryland Army National Guard1983–1997
U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland1991–1993- District of MarylandAssistant U.S. attorney · 1976–1980
U.S. Army Reserve1969–1975
Appointments
2003–2021 · Appointed by George W. Bush (Republican)
Education
- University of Maryland School of Law (now Francis King Carey School of Law)J.D. · 1973
- University of Maryland-Baltimorejd · 1973
- University of PennsylvaniaB.A. · 1969
- University of Pennsylvaniaba · 1969