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Richard Minor '90, one of five current judges on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, returns to Auburn as Law & Justice professor

After fighting for justice across Alabama, Judge Richard Minor returns to Auburn University to teach the skills he wishes he had at the start of his career.

"I didn't really know I wanted to be a lawyer until I got to Auburn. I was a pre-law, criminal justice major, but I thought I would do some type of federal law enforcement," Minor said. "My pre-law advisor, Dr. Kelly, set an internship up for me with one of his former students, Auburn football player Willie Huntley, who was an assistant at the U.S. Attorney's Office down in Mobile."

That summer set the course for Minor to pursue a focus in criminal law and criminal prosecution at the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. After graduating, Minor was offered a position as an assistant district and then drug task force prosecutor in Tuscaloosa upon law school graduation. In this position, he helped to dismantle drug trafficking and money laundering organizations, and watched criminals be brought to justice.

In 2004, Minor was elected district attorney in St. Clair County, helping to found the county's Community Corrections and Punishment Authority, including an adult drug court, a veterans treatment court and a mental health court. After serving as a prosecutor for 25 years, Minor decided to run for the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, where he hears all appeals of felony and misdemeanor cases in the state of Alabama. Recently, Judge Minor was elected to a second term on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals.

While attending the Alabama State Bar Summer conference in 2019, Minor ran into Pre-Law Program Coordinator Debra Armstrong-Wright, who was representing the new Law and Justice Program at Auburn.

"We never had anything like that when I was at Auburn. I got into a conversation with Debra about the program, and she mentioned that there may be an opening for an adjunct professor, so that's how it started," Minor said. "For students that really know that being a lawyer is what they want to do, the law and justice program is a great first step, and I think you're ahead of the game. In talking to current and former law school students that went through the law and justice program, they had a leg up over their classmates that first year of law school."

Luckily for Auburn students, Minor and his wife were already considering moving from their home in Pell City, with Auburn being at the top of the list. So, in the fall of 2020, Minor began teaching Introduction to The Legal Profession and later Legal Research and Writing.

Alongside Political Science Professor Steven Brown, Pre-Law Coordinator Debra Armstrong-Wright and Lecturer Jacqueline Smoke, Minor helped to develop the most recent law and justice class, Advanced Legal Research and Writing.

"Really when you boil it down, law school, it's all about writing," Minor said. "Your grades are based on your writing and how one puts their legal analysis down on paper. Or as most students today, how they type those ideas. I think the sooner you learn that, the better off you are."

For the final exam in Judge Minor's Advanced Legal Research and Writing class, students are asked to write a judicial opinion based on facts of a real court case.

"I gave them the record from an actual case previously decided by our court," Minor said. "I gave them the briefs filed by both the appellant and the attorney general's office and said, 'You're the judge now. You decide.'"

Auburn runs in Minor's blood. He, his parents, his twin brother, his oldest daughter, his nephew and his niece have all graduated from Auburn.

"Deep down, Auburn's family," Minor said. "You always pay back what it gave to you."

Learn more about Law and Justice in the College of Liberal Arts.

Tags: Political Science Pre-Law Scholars Faculty Alumni