From Lawyer to Judgeship: Judge Paul Niemeyer Found Fulfillment on the Bench

Black and white portrait of an older man with grey hair and glasses, wearing a black academic or judicial robe, white shirt, and striped tie. He smiles gently at the viewer. — *Judge Paul Niemeyer '66 J.D.*

In 1987, Judge Paul Niemeyer ‘66 J.D. got an unexpected phone call that changed the trajectory of his legal career. There was a district court vacancy in Maryland and several sitting judges had recommended Niemeyer, then a trial lawyer at Piper & Marbury (now known as DLA Piper).

But when the U.S. District judge in Maryland invited Niemeyer to submit his name to the Department of Justice for consideration to be a presidential nominee, he hesitated.

Niemeyer wasn’t sure he could afford the transition to public service, which would come with a drastic salary reduction, especially while he had three children in private school. And he loved his job as a trial lawyer. His firm represented Fortune 500 companies and had grown to be the largest in the state of Maryland. Niemeyer himself had handled two of the largest civil cases ever tried in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

A Greater Force

He wrestled with the decision for weeks. One morning, he was consumed with frustration while driving and exclaimed, “Oh God, give me some guidance. This decision cannot be all mine.”

Niemeyer was not a man who spoke out loud to himself—or God. But on that day, he was overcome with the urge to ask for God’s help. When he got home, he flipped open the Bible and without turning any pages found Psalm 26, which starts, “Test me, O Lord.”

A smiling man with short dark hair, wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and tie, sits at a desk holding a pen. Papers and books are on the desk. A stone-framed window is to his left; shelves are behind him. — *Judge Paul Niemeyer in the Notre Dame Law Review office circa 1965 where he served as the developments editor*

The decision then felt clear to Niemeyer, who believed accepting the nomination would be that test. He felt called to serve by a greater force than his own free will.

Niemeyer accepted the judge’s invitation to submit his name, and President Ronald Reagan soon called to share that he was officially nominating Niemeyer to the bench. After a lengthy and trying confirmation process, Niemeyer was confirmed and appointed by the U.S. Senate in February 1988.

Despite his initial concerns, Niemeyer quickly felt rooted in his decision. He found the job satisfying, exhilarating, and uplifting. He loved that his days and his work were centered around determining what was right and just, instead of a client’s demands.

“A judge applies law and provides it to achieve the right result in the case,” he said. “The task of seeking to do what is right and just would fulfill anyone. It certainly did me.”

It was only two years later that he received another unexpected phone call. This one came from President George H.W. Bush, who was nominating him to fill a vacancy on the Fourth Circuit.

Niemeyer was reluctant to leave the district court because he’d come to enjoy the position, but he also wanted to accept President Bush’s nomination, and he did in 1990. Again, he found himself thriving despite his initial resistance. Through his new position, he became a member of the Advisory Committee on Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and was its chair for four years.

Black and white portrait shows three smiling people: an older man in a dark suit, a woman with dark curly hair and a pearl necklace holding a book, and a younger man in a pinstripe suit and glasses. They stand before a wall inscribed "ard A. G...eral Building...Court". — *Judge Paul Niemeyer, with Chief Judge Alexander Harvey and his wife Susan Niemeyer, outside the U.S. District Court in Baltimore on the day he was sworn in as a U.S. District Judge in 1988*

Fulfillment and Challenges

Throughout his service, Niemeyer has reflected on his connection to Notre Dame Law School’s values of integrity, respect for human dignity, and service. He gravitated to Notre Dame Law, in large part, because it was a Catholic school with strong values and a growing reputation. Plus, his father, who fled Hitler’s rule and National Socialism in Germany in 1937, was a political science professor at the university.

Niemeyer appreciated that Notre Dame Law School was focused on “the ‘noble profession’ that is designed to help humankind to live under a rule of law—both civil and natural—while seeking and orienting beyond itself, something good. I am still influenced by that process and am most proud of it.”

Official portrait of Edward "Monk" Malloy, former Notre Dame President. He wears dark academic robes, a gold tie, and holds papers, smiling in front of a bookshelf and an American flag. — *Judge Paul Niemeyer’s judicial portrait*

As much as he loved serving on the bench, being a judge has not been without its challenges. He found sentencing especially hard while he was a district court judge as he felt the weight of “pronouncing judgment so basic to life and liberty that no human, in the final sense, might have that authority.”

Niemeyer also found it difficult to navigate issues that lacked clarity while he was presiding over legal decisions.

“Judicial decision-making often presented challenges when addressing issues that fall in the cracks between distinct or conflicting meanings of statutes or contracts, that have murky and conflicting facts, and that present competing interests,” he said. “I have found that one must apply judgment and spirit of the whole man to such issues, which involves a complex layer of factors, including common sense, logic, custom and practice, tradition, practicality, acceptance by the public, and moral norms, among others.”

While Niemeyer was honored to receive nominations from two U.S. Presidents, he also felt the pressure that came with those nominations. He wanted to deliver on the trust that was placed in him. But he felt that if he did his best to determine what was right and just, with clear and reasoned opinions, he should be satisfied and proud of his service as a judge.

“If others were to say that I was kind, did justice, and walked humbly before God, I could not ask for more,” Niemeyer said. “Or simply, ‘he was a good judge.’”

- Written by Emily Halnon