Introducing... Our Professional Advisory Board

The Honorable RICHARD LOWELL NYGAARD is a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He has chambers in Erie and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Prior to being appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals by President Ronald Reagan in 1988, Judge Nygaard served on the Court of Common Pleas for the Sixth Judicial District of Pennsylvania. He initially was appointed to this position, and later was elected to a ten-year term after being nominated by both political parties.

In 1991, the American Bar Association asked Judge Nygaard to serve as an advisor to the Constitutional Conferees of Romania, to assist that country in becoming a democracy. Since then, he has served as a constitutional consultant for Albania, Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Croatia, primarily in the areas of judicial structure and individual rights.

In addition, Judge Nygaard is currently conducting a study, under the auspices of the University of Virginia and funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy, on the ethical, legal, and sociological implications of the Human Genome Project. He also is a member of the Board of Visitors for Regent University Law School, and has served as guest lecturer for Penn State University, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, and Mercyhurst College.