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Timothy Q. Purdon is a lawyer who served as the 18th
United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...
for the District of North Dakota from 2010 to 2015. He is now a partner at Robins Kaplan LLP.


Education

Born in Oakes, ND in 1968, Purdon moved to Ashby, MN with his family. After graduating from Ashby High School, Purdon graduated from North Dakota State College of Science in 1989 and from
Minnesota State University Moorhead Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) is a public university in Moorhead, Minnesota, across the Red River of the North from Fargo, North Dakota. The school has an enrollment of 7,534 students in 2019 and 266 full-time faculty members. MSUM ...
''
summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...
'' in 1991. He received his
Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
from Hamline University School of Law in 1994. Following that, he clerked for Bruce Van Sickle, a judge on the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota.


Career

Following his clerkship, Purdon practiced law at the firm of Dickson & Purdon in
Bismarck, North Dakota Bismarck (; from 1872 to 1873: Edwinton) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat, seat of Burleigh County, North Dakota, Burleigh County. It is the state's List of cities i ...
. He then practiced law for the Vogel Law Firm, also in Bismarck, from 2005 to 2010. During this time, Minnesota Law & Politics Magazine named Purdon a "Great Plains Super Lawyer" in the practice area of Criminal Defense in 2007 and 2009. During the 2000 presidential election, Puirdon was a North Dakota state co-chair of GoreNet, a group that supported the Al Gore campaign with a focus on grassroots and online organizing as well as hosting small-dollar donor events. During the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, Purdon served as North Dakota state chairman for the
John Edwards Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who represented North Carolina in the United States Senate from 1999 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the vice presidential nominee under ...
campaign. In 2010, Purdon was nominated by President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
to be the
United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...
for the District of North Dakota. He was unanimously confirmed by the
United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
on August 5, 2010. As U.S. Attorney, Purdon gave special focus to making North Dakota's American Indian reservations safer for their residents and to countering the burgeoning organized crime activity that came with the increased oil activity in western North Dakota during his tenure. In 2013,
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
Eric Holder appointed Purdon the Chair of the Attorney General's Native American Issues Subcommittee (NAIS), which is responsible for recommending policy to address issues that specifically impact American Indian communities. In this role, Purdon also represented the Department of Justice in testimony before the
United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is a committee of the United States Senate charged with oversight in matters related to the American Indian, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native peoples. A Committee on Indian Affairs existed from 1820 to 1 ...
. In 2014, Holder appointed Purdon to the select Attorney General's Advisory Committee (AGAC), which represents all U.S. Attorneys in advising the Department of Justice on criminal justice policy and department procedures. On February 10, 2015, Purdon announced he was stepping down from the position of U.S. Attorney, effective March 13, 2015. On his departure from the Justice Department, Attorney General Holder praised his tenure as U.S. Attorney for North Dakota stating that, "Tim Purdon has been an outstanding United States Attorney, a fierce advocate for the people of North Dakota and a strong national leader whose efforts to improve public safety in Indian Country have made a profound difference – and touched countless lives." Purdon then became a partner at Robins Kaplan LLP, for which he founded and opened a Bismarck office. In the summer of 2015, Purdon and former US Attorney for South Dakota Brendan Johnson founded Robins Kaplan's American Indian Law and Policy Group. Purdon co-chairs this group and the Government and Internal Investigations Group at Robins Kaplan. Purdon continues to practice American Indian Law, and was named Lawyer of the Year in 2021 in Minnesota for his tribal work.


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Timothy Q. Purdon
at Robins Kaplan LLP {{DEFAULTSORT:Purdon, Tim Living people Hamline University School of Law alumni North Dakota lawyers North Dakota State College of Science alumni Minnesota State University Moorhead alumni United States attorneys for the District of North Dakota Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers