Meet the U.S. Attorney

Carlton S. Shier, IV

  United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky

Carlton S. Shier, IV was appointed United States Attorney, by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, on March 21, 2022.  Attorney General Merrick B. Garland had previously appointed him United States Attorney on November 21, 2021.  He first assumed the duties of the office, as the Acting United States Attorney, in January 2021. 

A Lexington, Kentucky native, Mr. Shier joined the United States Attorney’s Office in 2010, as the Chief of the Civil Division.  In April 2013, he was elevated to the position of First Assistant United States Attorney, overseeing all the litigating and administrative divisions of the office.  From January to November of 2017, he served as the Acting United States Attorney.

Prior to joining the United States Attorney’s Office, Mr. Shier served as the Deputy General Counsel of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.  There, he oversaw a staff of attorneys, served as an advisor to agency leadership, and provided counsel and representation to the State’s primary health services agencies (including Medicaid, Public Health, and Behavioral Health) and the Administrative Services agency.  Mr. Shier also spent several years as a Kentucky prosecutor, with the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office and the Fayette County Attorney’s Office.  His career also includes a period in the private practice of law, where he concentrated on commercial litigation.

Mr. Shier earned his undergraduate degree from Centre College, in Danville, Kentucky.  He then received a master’s degree, in Justice Administration, and his law degree from the University of Louisville.