Chief Judge Roberto A. Lange, though born in Spain, grew up in eastern South Dakota as a farm hand on a family farm/ranch operation. After graduating from the University of South Dakota with high honors, Judge Lange attended Northwestern University School of Law as a Wigmore Scholar, where he was editor of the school’s law review and represented the school on a national moot court team. Judge Lange received his Juris Doctorate degree with honors in 1988 and returned to his home state to work as a law clerk for then-Chief U.S. District Judge Donald Porter.

Judge Lange worked for twenty years in the litigation practice of Davenport, Evans, Hurwitz & Smith LLP in Sioux Falls, ultimately as head of the litigation practice. Although he specialized in complex commercial litigation and civil trial practice, Judge Lange took federal case appointments under the Criminal Justice Act, including one that lead to his arguing an issue in a death penalty case before the Supreme Court of the United States.

In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Lange to the district bench, the ABA Standing Committee on the Judiciary rated Judge Lange “well qualified unanimous,” and the Senate confirmed Judge Lange’s nomination on a vote of 100 to 0. Judge Lange presently serves as the Eighth Circuit district judge representative to the Judicial Conference of the United States, the policy making body of the judiciary. He previously served as chair of the Budget and Data Subcommittee of the Committee on Defender Services, overseeing the portion of the judiciary’s funding to pay for representation of indigent criminal defendants under the Criminal Justice Act and through federal public defender offices. He has served on various other committees and held other leadership positions, as well as having lectured, moderated, or presented at various judicial conferences and law schools.