Judge Arthur L. Hunter, Jr. was elected in November of 1996 to the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, New Orleans, Louisiana and retired February 1, 2020.  He served as Presiding Judge of the Orleans Re-Entry Court, Veterans Treatment Court and Mental Health Court.  Judge Hunter earned his Bachelor’s Degree and Juris Doctor from Loyola University of New Orleans, Louisiana.  He is a member of several professional associations.  Judge Hunter is a visiting faculty member of Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop.  Judge Hunter is a founder/advisor of the Young Artists Movement (YAM), and Founder/Director of the Allen Ray Bolin Trial Advocacy Workshop.

Judge Hunter has lectured and presented on various topics at the American Bar Association, National Bar Association, Yale Law School, Southern University Law Center, University of Illinois College of Law, Columbia University School of Law, Harvard Law School, and the University of the District of Columbia “David A. Clarke School of Law.”  Judge Hunter was invited as an expert by the U. S. Department of State to a conference on United States Sentencing Reform Experience and Lessons in Skopje, Macedonia.  Judge Hunter was awarded the National Bar Association Judicial Council Sara J. Harper Humanitarian Award, the Department of Public Safety and Corrections Secretary’s Award for the Reentry Court Program, the Louisiana State Reentry Service Award by the Louisiana Justice Hall of Fame, honored by Colorlines National Magazine as January/February 2007 “Innovator,” named “ 2015 Legal Rebel” by the American Bar Association, recipient of the Ernest N. Morial Judicial Pacesetter award from the Louis A. Martinet Legal Society, awarded “The Outstanding Professional Award” from the Southern Criminal Justice Association, and Veterans Appreciation Award from Vets Incarcerated.