Richard grew up in Sturgis, South Dakota, and received a bachelor’s degree from South Dakota State University in 1997. He graduated from the University of South Dakota School of Law with his Juris Doctor in 2000. From 2000 to 2001, Richard served as a Law Clerk for the Second Judicial Circuit in Minnehaha County. After serving as a Law Clerk, Richard began working with the South Dakota Office of Attorney General as an Assistant Attorney General, where he started in the Appellate Division. Richard later worked as a prosecutor for the drug unit until he became the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit’s Director in 2003. In 2006, he moved to the Attorney General’s Civil Division, where he handled civil litigation in both State and Federal Court. In 2015, Richard became a Deputy Attorney General and the Chief of the Civil Litigation Division. While practicing with the Office of Attorney General, he successfully argued cases in the South Dakota Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Also, Richard was integral in South Dakota v. Wayfair, South Dakota’s landmark internet tax case argued in the United States Supreme Court.
Lori Van Pelt
Paralegal
(605) 342-1078
Education
- Law School: University of South Dakota, J.D. - 2000
- Undergraduate School: South Dakota State University, B.S. Psychology / Sociology (Criminal Justice) - 1997
Admitted to the Bar
- State of South Dakota - 2000
- 8th Circuit Court of Appeals - 2001
- United States District Court - 2007
- United States Supreme Court - 2017
Biography
- Law Clerk, Second Judicial Circuit Court, Sioux Falls, S.D. - 2000-2001
Representative Cases
- South Dakota v. Wayfair – United States Supreme Court – Overturned Quill v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 289 (1992) and allowed states to require internet business to remit state sales tax
- Mauricio v. Daugaard – United States Supreme Court (cert. denied) – withstood a challenge to the Compacts Clause to allow the Department of Education to contract for testing assessments
- Trevarton v. Game Fish and Parks – 8th Circuit Court of Appeals – preserved the right of South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks to hold and manage the Mickelson Trail from Custer to Edgemont
- Constitution Party of S.D. v. Nelson – 8th Circuit Court of Appeals – Upheld constitutionality of South Dakota’s system for nominating candidates of new parties
- Davis v. State – South Dakota Supreme Court – After a one-month trial and subsequent appeal, upheld South Dakota’s school funding formula as constitutional
- State v. VandenBosch – criminal prosecution for the theft of nearly $500,000 from elderly client
Professional Memberships
- Public Sector Section of the South Dakota State Bar
- Natural Resources & Environmental Law Committee of South Dakota State Bar
- Summer Nights; Board of Directors
- Legislative – Government Accountability Task Force; 2017
- South Dakota Board of Bar Commissioners, Sixth Circuit Representative; 2016–2019
- YMCA; Board of Directors, 2007–2013