Today, President Obama nominated Judge Lucy Haeran Koh to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
“Judge
Lucy Haeran Koh has distinguished herself as a first-rate jurist with
unflagging integrity and evenhandedness," President Obama said. "I am
grateful for her service to the state of California and look forward to
adding her considerable wisdom and experience to the Ninth Circuit
Court."
Judge
Lucy Haeran Koh has served as a United States District Judge for the
Northern District of California since 2010 and previously served as a
California Superior Court Judge for Santa Clara County from 2008 to
2010.
Judge
Koh was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Columbia, Maryland,
Lorman and Vicksburg, Mississippi and Norman, Oklahoma. She received
her B.A., magna cum laude, from Harvard University in 1990, and
her J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1993. Judge Koh began her legal
career as a Women’s Law and Public Policy Fellow for the United States
Senate Judiciary Committee from 1993 to 1994. Following her fellowship,
she worked for the United States Department of Justice, serving first
as Special Counsel in the Office of Legislative Affairs, from 1994 to
1996, and then as Special Assistant to the Deputy Attorney General, from
1996 to 1997. From 1997 to 2000, Judge Koh served as an Assistant
United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States
Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. There, she
was awarded, among several recognitions, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation Director Louis J. Freeh Award for Demonstrated Excellence
in Prosecuting a Major Criminal Case. From 2000 to 2002, she worked as a
senior associate in the Palo Alto, California office of Wilson Sonsini
Goodrich & Rosati. From 2002 to 2008, she worked as a partner in
the Palo Alto, California office of McDermott Will & Emery LLP,
specializing in patent, trade secret, and commercial civil litigation.
In 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed her to the California
Superior Court for Santa Clara County, where she served until she was
appointed to the federal bench in 2010.
Judge
Koh has served on a number of bar and professional organizations
throughout her legal career, including the American Law Institute, the
Association of Business Trial Lawyers, and the Asian Pacific American
Bar Association of Silicon Valley.
In addition,
President Obama today nominated Donald W. Beatty and Donald C. Coggins, Jr.
to serve on the United States District Court for the District of South
Carolina.
“I
am honored to put forward these highly qualified candidates for the
federal bench,” President Obama said. “They will be distinguished
public servants and valuable additions to the United States District
Court.”
Justice
Donald W. Beatty has served as an Associate Justice on the South
Carolina Supreme Court since 2007. He served as an Associate Judge on
the South Carolina Court of Appeals from 2003 to 2007 and as a Circuit
Court Judge on the South Carolina Seventh Judicial Circuit from 1995 to
2003. Prior to his judicial service, from 1991 to 1995, Justice Beatty
was elected to serve as a Member of the House of Representatives in the
South Carolina General Assembly. From 1981 to 1995, he worked as a solo
practitioner, with the exception of a two-year period from 1989 to
1990, during which he was a partner at the law firm of Beatty, Vick and
Tullis in Spartanburg, South Carolina (no longer operational). Also
during this time, he served as a council member for the Spartanburg City
Council from 1988 to 1991. Justice Beatty began his legal career
working as an associate for the Neighborhood Legal Assistance Program in
Conway, South Carolina (no longer operational) from 1979 to 1981. He
received his J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law in
1979 and his B.A. cum laude from South Carolina State University in 1974.
Donald
C. Coggins, Jr. has been a shareholder at the law firm of Harrison,
White, Smith & Coggins, P.C. (formerly Harrison, White, Smith, Hayes
& Coggins, P.C.) in Spartanburg, South Carolina since 2000, where
his practice focuses on civil litigation. For three years, from 2010 to
2013, he was the firm’s managing shareholder. Coggins also serves as a
member of the South Carolina Commission on Lawyer Conduct, a position
to which he was appointed in 2003. Previously, from 1986 to 2000,
Coggins was a partner at two Spartanburg, South Carolina law firms:
Smith and Coggins from 1993 to 2000 and Cummings, Smith and Coggins from
1986 to 1993 (both no longer operational). He began his legal career
working as an associate at Cummings and Smith from 1984 to 1986, before
being elevated to partner. Coggins received his J.D. from the
University of South Carolina School of Law in 1984 and his B.A. from
Clemson University in 1981.
Source: The Office of the Press Secretary
