Chas Neff, Jr.

Judge Neff was appointed as a District Court Judge by Governor Doug Burgum in 2022 for the Northwest Judicial District No. 3, located in Williston, North Dakota.

Born in Brainerd, Minnesota, in 1980, Judge Neff graduated from Shanley High School and Cardinal Muench Seminary in 1999. He began his undergraduate studies at Mount St. Mary’s College and completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications at North Dakota State University in 2003. He earned his Juris Doctor from the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minnesota and was admitted to the North Dakota Bar on September 15, 2008.

Judge Neff’s professional experience includes serving as an Expert Intern for the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations. He worked as a Reference Attorney and Consultant at Thomson Reuters from 2007 to 2014. From 2014 to 2017, he served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in McKenzie County, later becoming the McKenzie County State’s Attorney from 2017 to 2018. Before his judicial appointment, Judge Neff served as a Law Clerk and Staff Attorney for the Northwest Judicial District from 2019 until his judgeship in 2023.