COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARDS
Community Service Awards recognize outstanding volunteer service that has enhanced the quality of life in the recipients’ communities. The award is given to individuals who have displayed adherence to the highest professionalism during their careers and who have displayed a long-term commitment to volunteer service outside the legal profession in their local community.
HONORABLE CHARLES B. NEFF JR.
Judge Charles B. Neff Jr. moved to Watford City in 2014 as a prosecutor and was appointed to the Northwest Judicial District Court bench in 2023 with chambers in Williston. He currently sits on the Joint Committee on Attorney Standards and the Informal Complaint Panel.
Neff is a strong supporter and believer in youth extracurriculars and over the past 10 years, has officiated sports throughout western North Dakota at all levels and assisted in coordinating youth tournaments. Since high school, he has filled various roles as needed to ensure youth activities can function.
Neff is engaged in the many communities he has lived in, putting into practice the idea of servant leadership he learned while attending Cardinal Muench Seminary. He is active in Epiphany Catholic Church in Watford City. He has served as an election judge, and has also assisted the Upper Missouri Bar Association in its Law Day activities.
ASHLEY BEALL
Ashley Beall was licensed in North Dakota in 2009 and served on the board of directors for the Minot Domestic Violence Crisis Center from 2011 through 2019. In 2019, while teaching as an adjunct professor in the criminal justice department at Minot State University( MSU), Beall established the Beall Law Scholarship for students at the university, and has been a member of the President’ s Club since that time, empowering students at Minot State University( MSU) to achieve their academic and professional goals. Beall and her family have also enjoyed serving as a host family for several baseball players on Minot’ s collegiate summer baseball team.
In 2022, Beall began serving on the board of directors for Independence, Inc., a 501( c)( 3) nonprofit committed to empowering individuals with disabilities, seniors, and people with behavioral health disorders to live independently. She currently serves as the vice president of that board. She is a part of the community coordinating committee, which holds monthly meetings to share information and resources between agencies and organizations that serve common vulnerable populations in Minot. Beall and her family regularly volunteer with Come Along Side Others, a nonprofit organization which supports children impacted by abuse and / or neglect and their families, biological, foster, and adoptive parents.
CRAIG M. RICHIE
Craig M. Richie has practiced law for more than 53 years and was licensed in North Dakota in 1973. He currently works for Brudvik Law Office and is a volunteer judge in Arizona. Richie was also a municipal judge in North River, an instructor of Human Resource Management and Employment Law at Concordia College, served on the Agriculture and Judiciary committees for the North Dakota State Legislature, and was in the U. S. Air Force Reserve.
Richie has been involved in numerous community projects, from building four lighted baseball fields, converting a warehouse into an indoor hockey rink, and building a CHRISTian home for college students. He is also the founder and organizer of numerous teams and leagues, among those the church basketball league that was started in 1980 and is still running. He remains involved with coaching and umpiring baseball for high school, college, and legion teams.
Richie substitute teaches at Shanley High School in Fargo, and he and his wife also give out food at a ministry in Dilworth, Minnesota, and are involved at Hope Lutheran and Burning Hearts churches. Richie’ s commitment to his practice and community is an inspiration to those who know him and to the residents of the East Central Judicial District.
Hon. Charles B. Neff Jr. was presented with his award by SBAND President-Elect Hernando Perez.
Northcentral Judicial District representative Ashleigh Ensrud presenting a Community Service Award to Ashley Beall.
Craig Richie, second from right, presented with the Community Service Award by SBAND President Rob Manly, far right.
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