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Meet the U.S. Attorney

Kevin G. Ritz
United States Attorney
Western District Of Tennessee

US Attorney Kevin Ritz

United States Attorney Kevin G. Ritz is the chief federal law enforcement officer in West Tennessee.  He was sworn in September 28, 2022.  Ritz was nominated by President Joe Biden on July 29, 2022, and he was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on September 22, 2022. 

 

Mr. Ritz is a Memphian who has dedicated his entire career to federal public service.  Prior to his nomination, he was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Western District of Tennessee for 17 years.  He started in the narcotics unit prosecuting drug, firearm, robbery, carjacking, and other offenses.  He later held various leadership positions in the office, including serving as Appellate Chief and Special Counsel for over a decade.  He has written more than 200 appellate briefs and argued 37 cases in the federal courts of appeals. 

 

Ritz has twice served on the Department of Justice’s Appellate Chiefs Working Group.  From 2020 to 2021, he was the Chair of the Tennessee Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section, and in 2017 Ritz was the President of the Federal Bar Association’s Memphis Chapter.  From 2008 to 2016, Ritz was an Adjunct Professor at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. 

 

Before his tenure in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Ritz clerked for Judge Julia S. Gibbons of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  Between college and law school, Mr. Ritz worked for the United States Department of State. 

 

Mr. Ritz received his J.D. from the University of Virginia, his M.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, and his B.A. with High Distinction from the University of Virginia, where he was a Jefferson Scholar.  He is a product of the Memphis City Schools system.  He and his family live in midtown Memphis.

Updated December 21, 2022