BISMARCK, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Gov. Kelly Armstrong announced the appointment of longtime Fargo attorney Mark Friese to the North Dakota Supreme Court, effective March 9.

Friese succeeds Justice Daniel Crothers, who on Nov. 26 announced his retirement from the Supreme Court effective Feb. 28 after serving on the state’s highest court since 2005.

Friese is a shareholder with Vogel Law Firm in Fargo and has practiced primarily criminal defense law for 25 years, as well as civil litigation. Prior to joining the law firm, he clerked for Supreme Court Justice Dale Sandstrom for one year. Before earning his law degree in 2000, Friese served as a Bismarck police officer for five years. He also served 24 years in the North Dakota Army National Guard, retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 2011 after holding numerous positions including platoon leader, executive officer, detachment commander, company commander, assistant staff judge advocate and state judge advocate.

“Mark is a brilliant, fair-minded and well-respected lawyer who has excelled as one of our state’s premier trial attorneys for more than two decades,” Armstrong said. “His deep understanding of the law and broad experience as a police officer, Supreme Court clerk, law school instructor, defense attorney and military lawyer will bring a uniquely informed perspective to the Supreme Court and serve North Dakota citizens well.”

Friese has served on the Supreme Court’s Joint Procedure Committee since 2018 and previously served a three-year term on its Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee. He also chairs the North Dakota Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigents and was admitted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2023.

Born in Minot and raised in Bismarck, Friese earned undergraduate degrees in criminal justice and social/behavioral sciences from Bismarck State College and the University of Mary in Bismarck and his law degree from the University of North Dakota School of Law in Grand Forks. He has taught law-related courses at the UND School of Law, North Dakota State University and the University of Mary’s Fargo campus. A member of the State Bar Association since 2000, he has served on the East Central Judicial District Adult Drug Court Advisory Board since 2003 and as the Criminal Justice Act Panel representative for the District North Dakota since 2010.

Friese and his wife, RoxAnne, have three adult children.

Armstrong again expressed his thanks to Crothers for his more than 20 years of service to the Supreme Court.

Crothers’ current 10-year term on the Supreme Court expires in 2032. Because an appointment to the Supreme Court must continue for at least two years under Article VI of the North Dakota Constitution, Friese will serve until the 2028 general election and may run for the remaining four years of the 10-year term that began Jan. 1, 2023.