THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

PRESIDENT CLINTON NOMINATES TWO TO THE FEDERAL BENCH

President Clinton today nominated Lawrence Baskir to serve on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Lawrence Baskir, 57, has served as Principal Deputy General Counsel for the Department of the Army since 1994. Prior to entering private practice in 1981, Baskir was legislative director for Senator Bill Bradley, Deputy Assistant Secretary (Legislation) for the Department of Treasury, Director of the Vietnam Offender Study at the University of Notre Dame, Chief Executive Officer and General Counsel to the Presidential Clemency Board for Draft Evaders and Deserters, and Chief Counsel and Staff Director to the Constitutional Rights Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He earned his LL.B. degree from Harvard Law School and his B.A. degree from Princeton University. Baskir and his wife, Marna Tucker, have two children and reside in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, 52, has been a judge on the District of Columbia Superior Court since 1984. For the twelve years preceding her appointment to the bench, she was the Chief Legal Counsel for St. Elizabeth's Hospital in the District of Columbia. She began her career as a law clerk on the D.C. Court of Appeals before joining the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division at the Department of Justice. Kotelly received both her undergraduate and law degrees from Catholic University. She and her husband, John Kotelly, reside in Washington, D.C.

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