The Federal Practice Committee for the District of North Dakota sponsored U.S. District Judge P. Casey Pitts from the Northern District of California to speak at the State Bar Association of North Dakota’s annual meeting on June 13, 2025.
His presentation entitled “Lessons Learned from a Life in Federal Court” outlined the federal litigation lessons he has drawn from both his experiences as a litigator in federal courts throughout the country and as a United States district judge in one of the country’s busiest federal courts. He also discussed the ways his North Dakota upbringing continues to guide his thinking about how to be an effective lawyer and judge.
Judge Pitts, a native of Fargo, has served as a U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of California since July 2023. Before taking the bench, Judge Pitts was a partner at a public interest law firm in San Francisco. Judge Pitts is a graduate of Fargo South High School, Yale College, and Yale Law School. After law school graduation, he served as a law clerk for the Ninth Circuit.
