Doris L. Pryor

Doris (Clark) Pryor was born and raised in Hope, Arkansas. An honor student at Hope High School (Class of 1994), where she served as president of the school’s student government, Pryor then attended the University of Central Arkansas. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1999. She enrolled at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in 2000 and received her JD in 2003. After law school she clerked for Chief Judge Lavenski Smith of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (August 2003-August 2004) and followed that with a second clerkship, for Judge J. Leon Holmes in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas (August 2004-August 2005) From August 2005 through August 2006, Ms. Pryor served as a Deputy Public Defender in the State of Arkansas Public Defender’s Commission. From August 2006 until September 2014, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. She was then appointed National Security Chief for the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana. In March of 2018 she was appointed U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Indiana and in May of 2022, President Joseph Biden nominated Pryor her to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 5, 2022. Judge Pryor has been actively involved with the Law School since she graduated. In 2015 she began teaching a pre-trial litigation course during the school’s Winter session, and in August 2021, she delivered the keynote address at orientation and administered the oath of professionalism to the incoming 1L class.https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/notablealumni/1261/thumbnail.jp