Robert Wayne Ritchie was born in Corbin, Kentucky, and earned his undergraduate degree from Western Kentucky University before receiving his law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law. After three years of service with the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the United States Army, he founded his own law practice in Knoxville, Tennessee, which grew over the next four decades into the firm of Ritchie, Dillard & Davies (later Ritchie, Johnson & Stovall).
In addition to serving as president of NACDL, Ritchie served as president of the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which he helped found, and the Knoxville Bar Association. He was a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers beginning in 1985 and served as chairman of its Federal Criminal Procedures Committee from 1996 to 1999. He was inducted into fellowship in the International Academy of Trial Lawyers in 1998. In 1997, the Knoxville Bar Association recognized him with its highest honor, the Governor's Award, for professional achievement and community commitment.
Ritchie was widely regarded as one of the nation's foremost criminal defense trial lawyers, known equally for his courtroom skill and his generosity toward younger attorneys entering the profession. He taught at the University of Tennessee College of Law and the National Criminal Defense College, and lectured at seminars and trial demonstrations for the American Bar Association, NACDL, and numerous other bar associations and law schools.
Robert W. Ritchie died April 28, 2006. In his honor, the Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers established the Robert Ritchie Award, presented to members who exemplify his dedication to criminal defense practice, and the Tennessee Judicial Conference Foundation established the Robert W. Ritchie Scholarship at the University of Tennessee College of Law.
