--- title: "James C. Dever III | KnowJudges" canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/james-c-dever-iii" page_type: "judge_profile" updated: "2026-10-07" --- # James C. Dever III U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina · U.S. District Judge ## Profile - Court: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina - State: North Carolina - Role: U.S. District Judge - Service status: active - Last verified: 2026-07-25 ## Summary Official judge-specific and circuitwide procedural guidance has been located for this profile. ## Biography ### Professional career - Judge, District Court, E.D. North Carolina, 2005-present - From 1992 to 2004, he practiced law privately in North Carolina and began teaching as an adjunct professor at Campbell University School of Law in 1997, later becoming a Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke University School of Law in 2008 - He then served in the U.S. Air Force General Counsel Honors Program at the Pentagon from 1988 to 1992, providing legal advice and litigation support for the Secretary of the Air Force, and subsequently served in the Air Force Reserves until 2000, earning the Meritorious Service Medal - Law clerk, Hon. J. Clifford Wallace, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 1987-1988 U.S. Air Force, General Counsel Office, 1988-1992 U.S. Air Force Reserve, 1992-2000 - After law school, Dever clerked for Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (1987–1988). ### Education - He then received his Juris Doctor with high honors from Duke University School of Law in 1987, serving as editor-in-chief of the Duke Law Journal and being elected to the Order of the Coif, receiving numerous academic awards - B.B.A. — University of Notre Dame — 1984 ### Additional information - In October 2025, he became Chair of the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure - Chief Justice John Roberts appointed Dever to the Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules (2014–2021) and later as Chair (2022–September 2025). - He held the role of a U.S. Magistrate Judge from 2004 to 2005 and as Chief Judge from 2011 to 2018 - received his commission on May 2, 2005. - Private practice, North Carolina, 1992-2004 - Dever was first nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina by President George W. Bush in 2002, but his initial nominations were returned by the Senate. - He obtained a Bachelor of Business Administration with high honors from the University of Notre Dame in 1984, where he attended on a four-year ROTC scholarship and was a Distinguished Military Graduate. - James Columcille Dever III was born on May 25, 1962, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. - Date of birth: 1962-01-01 - overseeing the federal judiciary’s rulemaking process and coordinating the work of advisory committees on evidence and procedural rules - Birth place: Lake Charles, LA ## Before you appear - Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed. - Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance. - Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding. ## Courtroom Rules ### courtroom technology Scope: judge specific Judge-specific source Evidence excerpt: Trial: . Please contact the Clerk's office one week prior to a trial in which you want to use evidence-presentation equipment that is the property of the court. Not all equipment in the courtroom belongs to the court, and equipment that does not belong to the court is not available for use by litigants. [Practice Preferences - The Honorable United States District Judge James C. Dever III](https://www.nced.uscourts.gov/judges/deverpref.aspx) Source checked: 2026-07-24 ### civil remote testimony Scope: courtwide In federal district-court civil proceedings, testimony is ordinarily taken in open court; remote contemporaneous testimony requires good cause in compelling circumstances and appropriate safeguards. Evidence excerpt: For good cause in compelling circumstances and with appropriate safeguards, the court may permit testimony in open court by contemporaneous transmission from a different location. [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a), Testimony in Open Court](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-civil-procedure) Source checked: 2026-07-26 ### criminal recording and broadcasting Scope: courtwide Federal district courts may not permit courtroom photography or broadcasting during criminal judicial proceedings unless a statute or another federal rule provides an exception. Evidence excerpt: Except as otherwise provided by a statute or these rules, the court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom. [Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53, Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited](https://www.uscourts.gov/court-records/access-court-proceedings/remote-public-access-proceedings/history-cameras-broadcasting-and-remote-public-access-courts) Source checked: 2026-07-26 ## Sources - [Official profile](https://www.fjc.gov/node/1392266) - [Official roster](https://www.fjc.gov/node/1392266) - [Federal Judicial Center biography](https://www.fjc.gov/node/1392266) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/861/james-c-dever-iii/) - [Practice Preferences - The Honorable United States District Judge James C. Dever III](https://www.nced.uscourts.gov/judges/deverpref.aspx) - [Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 43(a), Testimony in Open Court](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-civil-procedure) - [Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 53, Courtroom Photographing and Broadcasting Prohibited](https://www.uscourts.gov/court-records/access-court-proceedings/remote-public-access-proceedings/history-cameras-broadcasting-and-remote-public-access-courts) - [CourtListener judicial biographical directory](https://www.courtlistener.com/person/861/james-c-dever-iii/) - [Wikidata: James C. Dever III](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6130688) ## JSON-LD ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/james-c-dever-iii", "url": "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/james-c-dever-iii", "name": "James C. Dever III | KnowJudges", "description": "James C. 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Collected 2026-10-27. - [Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, December 1, 2025](https://knowjudges.com/courtroom-rules/national-shared-set-8721a344fececced2257fe1d) — Criminal proceedings in United States District Courts; this conservative mapping does not distribute appellate-specific provisions to appellate judges. Section-specific exceptions, waivers, later amendments and case orders remain applicable. This is a source excerpt, not an exhaustive statement of the rule. [Official source](https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/federal-rules-of-criminal-procedure.pdf). Collected 2026-10-27.