THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

PRESIDENT NOMINATES TWENTY TWO TO THE FEDERAL BENCH

The President today nominated Marjorie Rendell to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Pennsylvania and Helene White to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Michigan. He also resubmitted to the Senate the following, each of whom was nominated to the federal bench during the 104th Congress:

James A. Beaty, Jr. to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, North Carolina Eric Clay to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Michigan. William Fletcher to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, California. Arthur Gajarsa to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Merrick Garland to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Margaret McKeown to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Washington. Richard Paez to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, California. Ann L. Aiken to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. Lawrence Baskir to serve on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Joseph F. Bataillon to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska. Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Richard A. Lazzara to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Donald M. Middlebrooks to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Jeffrey T. Miller to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Susan Oki Mollway to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii. Margaret M. Morrow to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California Robert W. Pratt to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. Christina A. Snyder to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Clarence J. Sundram to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. Thomas Thrash to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Biographical summaries of the nominees follow:

Marjorie Rendell is currently a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Prior to her appointment to the District Court, Rendell practiced for over twenty years with the Philadelphia law firm of Duane, Morris & Heckscher, first as an associate and then as a partner. As a member of the firm's Reorganization and Finance Section, Rendell engaged primarily in commercial and creditors' rights litigation in both the federal and state courts.

Rendell has worked extensively with various professional and community groups over the years, serving as a mediator for the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia and a board member of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation. She has been Vice Chair of the Visiting Nurse Association of Greater Philadelphia, an organization that provides home nursing care to the indigent, and has served as a board member for any number of groups, including the Market East Improvement Association, the Council of Penn Women, and the Avenue of the Arts, Inc., a local project committed to developing a world-class cultural and performing arts district in Center City.

A cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Rendell attended Georgetown Law Center for a year before transferring to Villanova School of Law where she earned her juris doctor degree.

Rendell, who is married to the Mayor of Philadelphia, Edward Rendell, has one child and resides in Philadelphia. Upon confirmation, Rendell would become one of 14 judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which hears cases from Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the Virgin Islands.

Helene N. White has been a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals since January 1993. A graduate of Barnard College in 1975 and the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1978, White spent her first two years following law school as a clerk to Michigan Supreme Court Justice Charles L. Levin. Immediately thereafter, she won an elected position on the Common Pleas Court for the City of Detroit. In 1982, White was elected to the Wayne County Circuit Court. White served on the Circuit Court for nearly ten years as a trial judge, handling a wide range of civil and criminal cases. She ran successfully for her current position on the Michigan Court of Appeals in November 1992, and has served on this general appellate court since January 1993. Upon confirmation, White would become one of sixteen judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the sixth circuit, which hears cases from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennesee.

James A. Beaty, Jr. is currently serving as a judge on the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina. Before assuming his present position, Beaty spent thirteen years as a judge on the North Carolina Superior Court. Prior to taking the bench, Beaty practiced law in Winston-Salem, where he maintained a general civil and criminal litigation practice.

Beaty has remained active in community service throughout his legal career. Over the years he has worked with many civic groups including Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the Salvation Army Girls Club Advisory Committee, and Inner City Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He has also worked as an assistant coach for the local Pop Warner football league. In recognition of both his professional and civic contributions, Beaty received the Western Carolina University Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1994.

Beaty received his B.A. degree from Western Carolina University, which he attended on an athletic scholarship. After graduating from college, Beaty went on to earn his J.D. degree from the University of North Carolina.

Beaty and his wife, Toy Beaty, have one child and reside in Winston-Salem. Upon confirmation, Beaty would become one of fifteen judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which hears cases from Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Eric L. Clay is currently a partner and co-founder of Lewis, White & Clay, a law firm in Detroit. Clay serves as Chair of the firm's litigation department and maintains a diverse civil litigation practice. Before entering private practice, Clay served as a law clerk for then- District Judge Damon Keith, now a senior member of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Clay received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina and his J.D. from Yale University. He has remained active in bar activities and is a former member of both the U.S. Magistrates Selection Panel and the U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Merit Selection Committee for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. He also has been selected to serve as a life member of the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference.

Clay resides in West Bloomfield and upon confirmation would become one of sixteen judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which hears cases from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee.

William A. Fletcher has been a professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall) since 1977.

At Boalt Hall, Fletcher has focused his academic work on federal civil procedure and federal jurisdiction. He is a co-author of a leading casebook on federal civil practice and procedure, and has been a member of the American Law Institute since 1989. In 1993, Fletcher was awarded the University of California, Berkeley, Distinguished Teaching Award.

In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Fletcher has been active in law school administration, serving as Chair of the Appointments Committee and the Dean Search Committee. Fletcher also has served as a visiting professor at the University of Michigan Law School, and as a professor at the Salzburg Seminars.

Fletcher received his B.A. degree from Harvard University and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University. After serving as an officer with the U.S. Navy, Fletcher received his J.D. degree from Yale Law School. He then served as a law clerk to Judge Stanley A. Weigel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and to Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Fletcher and his wife, Linda Morris Fletcher, have three children and reside in Berkeley. Upon confirmation, Fletcher would become one of 28 judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which hears cases from Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon and Washington.

Arthur Gajarsa is currently a partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Joseph, Gajarsa, McDermott & Reiner, where he maintains a diverse civil practice in corporate law, international trade, commercial litigation and the representation of Native American Tribes in water rights, land claims and gaming matters. Gajarsa began his career as a patent examiner with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He served as a law clerk for Judge Joseph McGarraghy on the U. S. District Court for the District of Columbia and worked as an attorney in the Department of Defense specializing in defense systems analysis and intellectual property rights. Before entering private practice, he was special counsel to the Secretary of Interior and Commissioner of Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior.

Gajarsa is a member of the Federal Circuit Bar, the Federal Bar Association and American Judicature Association. He is also a member of the American Bar Association and participates in the Administrative Law, Business Law, Litigation and Antitrust Sections. Long active in the Italian-American community, Gajarsa has served as both President and General Counsel of the National Italian American Foundation. Gajarsa also has made considerable contributions to the community through his participation as a board member of numerous civic and educational organizations, including the Georgetown University Board of Regents, the Rensselaer Neuman Foundation, the Institute for Contemporary Culture, the Foundation For Improving Understanding of the Arts, and Outward Bound.

Gajarsa earned his undergraduate degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a masters in economics from Catholic University, and his law degree from Georgetown Law Center. He and his wife, Melanie, have five children and reside in Potomac, Maryland.

Upon confirmation, Gajarsa would become one of 12 judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which has nationwide jurisdiction over appeals involving patents, trademarks, and intellectual property, appeals from the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the Court of International Trade, the International Trade Commission, the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Court of Veteran Appeals, the Board of Contract Appeals, and from federal sector labor arbitrations.

Merrick B. Garland is currently the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, serving as senior advisor and chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Jamie S. Gorelick. In that capacity, he has been responsible for coordinating the Justice Department's prosecution in the Oklahoma City bombing case. Garland has an extensive background in criminal law, having served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division prior to taking his current post and as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1989-1992. Before joining the U.S. Attorney's Office, Garland was a partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Arnold & Porter, where he maintained a practice in criminal, civil, and appellate litigation.

A native of Illinois, Garland earned his B.A. degree from Harvard College and his J.D. degree from Harvard Law School. Upon graduation from law school, Garland served as a law clerk to Judge Henry Friendly of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and later for Justice William Brennan, Jr., of the United States Supreme Court. Garland and his wife, Lynn, live in Maryland.

M. Margaret McKeown is currently a partner at the Seattle firm of Perkins Coie, where she maintains a diverse civil litigation practice, handling numerous and complex cases in the fields of intellectual property, antitrust, government contracts and commercial law. Since becoming the first woman to be selected for partnership in the firm's eighty-year history, McKeown has been actively involved in firm management, serving for over eleven years on the firm's Executive Committee and, for the last five years, on the four-person Management Committee. Currently, she is the firm's Client Relations Partner and co-chair of the Antitrust, Trade Regulation and Intellectual Property Group. Although she has worked at Perkins Coie for virtually all of her professional career, she took a one-year sabbatical from 1980 to 1981 to serve in the prestigious White House Fellow program, working in the White House Office of Policy Development and as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior.

McKeown was named "Outstanding Lawyer" by the Seattle-King County Bar Association in 1992. She has received innumerable honors and awards and has been listed in "Best Lawyers in America," "Washington's Winningest Trial Lawyers" by the Washington Journal, "Top Players in Hi-Tech Intellectual Property" by the National Law Journal, "Who's Who in Professional Firms" by the Puget Sound Business Journal, and "Who's Who in America." Based on her expertise in international intellectual property issues, she was selected as a Japan Society Leadership Fellow. McKeown also has been active in community and professional organizations, including life-long participation in the Girl Scouts, where she served for over nine years on the National Board and is currently a Girl Scout troop leader.

McKeown earned her B.A. degree (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Wyoming and her J.D. degree from Georgetown University, where she was selected as an editor of the Journal of Law and Policy in International Business. McKeown and her husband, Peter Cowhey, have one child and reside in Seattle.

Upon confirmation, McKeown would become one of 28 judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which hears cases from Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon and Washington.

Richard A. Paez, is currently a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. He previously served for over a decade as a judge on the Los Angeles Municipal Court, winning reelection on two separate occasions. During his tenure on the Municipal Court, Paez was selected by his fellow judges to serve as the Presiding Judge and he occasionally sat by designation on the Superior Court and the California Court of Appeal. In addition, Paez was extremely active on a number of judicial committees, often serving at the request of the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court.

Before taking the bench, Paez was an attorney for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, serving initially as Senior Counsel and later as Acting Executive Director and Director of Litigation. He also spent several years early in his career as a staff attorney with the Western Center on Law and Poverty in the San Joaquin Valley and with California Rural Legal Assistance.

Paez, who was born and raised in Utah, earned his B.A. from Brigham Young University and his J.D. from Boalt Hall.

Paez and his wife, Dianne Marie Erickson, have two children and reside in Los Angeles. Upon confirmation, Paez would become one of 28 judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which hears cases from Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, the Northern Mariana Islands, Oregon, and Washington.

Ann L. Aiken has served as a judge for the Lane County District and Circuit Courts in Eugene since 1988. Previously, she practiced law for six years in Oregon, served as Chief Clerk to the Oregon House of Representatives, and worked as a law clerk for Judge Edwin Allen of the Lane County Circuit Court. Aiken earned a J.D. degree from the University of Oregon School of Law; an M.A. degree from Rutgers University; and a B.A. degree from the University of Oregon. She and her husband, James Klonoski, have five children and reside in Eugene.

Lawrence Baskir 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.

Joseph F. Bataillon is an attorney with the Omaha law firm of Sodoro, Daly & Sodoro, where he has practiced since 1980. Previously, he was a Deputy Public Defender for Douglas County and a Defense Counsel Judge Advocate General in the United States Army Reserve. Bataillon earned his J.D. and B.A. degrees from Creighton University. He and his wife, Pamela, have five children and reside in Omaha.

Colleen Kollar-Kotelly 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.

Richard A. Lazzara is a judge on Florida's Second District Court of Appeals, where he has served since 1993. He previously served as a judge on Florida's Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court and on the Hillsborough County Court. Prior to taking the bench, Lazzara was both the Assistant County Solicitor and Assistant State Attorney for Hillsborough County, an associate with the Tampa law firm of Levine, Freedman & Hirsch, and a sole practitioner. Lazzara earned his J.D. degree from the University of Florida College of Law and his B.A. degree from Loyola University of the South. He and his wife, Celeste, reside in Lutz.

Donald M. Middlebrooks is a partner with the Miami-based law firm of Steel Hector & Davis, resident in West Palm Beach. He received both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Florida. After a short stint in private practice, he worked in the office of Governor Reubin Askew, eventually serving as General Counsel for the Office of the Governor. With Steel Hector since 1977, Middlebrooks has specialized in complex civil litigation. He has served as President of the Florida Bar Association, Director of the Volunteer Lawyers Resource Center, Director of the Florida Bar Children's Fund, and President of Florida Legal Services. He received the Florida Bar's Award of Merit in 1990. He and his wife, Victoria have two children and reside in Jupiter.

Jeffrey T. Miller is a judge on the state Superior Court in San Diego, where he has served since 1987. During that time he has twice won reelection to his position without challenge. Before his selection for the state trial bench, Miller served in the California Department of Justice in the Office of the Attorney General. Beginning as a staff attorney, Miller eventually was named a Deputy Attorney General, a position he held from 1974 to 1987. During his tenure as a Deputy Attorney General, Miller argued two cases before the United States Supreme Court and obtained favorable results for the State in both cases. Miller received both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of California at Los Angeles. Miller has two children and he and his wife reside in Encinitas.

Susan Oki Mollway is a partner with the Honolulu law firm of Cades Schutte Fleming & Wright, where she has practiced since 1981. She has also taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Hawaii School of Law. Mollway earned her J.D. degree from Harvard Law School -8-

and her M.A. and B.A. degrees from the University of Hawaii. She and her husband, Daniel, have one child and reside in Honolulu.

Margaret M. Morrow has been a shareholder at the Los Angeles law firm of Quinn, Kully & Morrow since 1987. Previously, she was a partner at the law firm of Kadison, Pfaelzer, Woodard, Quinn & Rossi. At both firms she pursued a civil litigation practice. Morrow earned her J.D. degree from Harvard Law School and her A.B. degree from Bryn Mawr College. She and her husband, Paul Boland, have one child and live in Pasadena.

Robert Pratt is in the private practice of law in Des Moines. A graduate of Loras College and Creighton University School of Law, Pratt began his career as a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society. After ten years with private firms in Des Moines, Pratt started his own practice in 1985. He has been active in professional organizations and has maintained a significant pro bono practice. He received the Iowa Bar's Volunteer Lawyer of the Year Award in 1983. Pratt practices primarily in the workers' compensation, social security disability, and personal injury fields. He and his wife, Rose Mary have three children and reside in Des Moines.

Christina A. Snyder is a partner with the Los Angeles law firm of Corinblit & Seltzer, where she has practiced since 1994. Previously, she was a partner with the Los Angeles law firms of Katten, Muchin, Zavis & Weitzman and Wyman, Bautzer, Kuchel & Silbert. She is primarily a civil litigator. Snyder earned her J.D. degree from Stanford Law School and her B.A. degree from Pomona College. She and her husband, Marc Seltzer, reside in Beverly Hills.

Clarence J. Sundram was appointed to his position as Chairman of the New York State Commission on Quality of Care for the Mentally Disabled in 1978. Previously, he was an Assistant Counsel to the Governor of the State of New York. Sundram earned his J.D. degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo and his B.A. degree from Niagara University. He and his wife, Theresa Rodrigues, have three children and reside in Delmar.

Thomas W. Thrash is currently a sole practitioner in Atlanta, where he practices both civil and criminal law. Previously, he was a partner in the Atlanta law firm of Finch, McCranie, Brown & Thrash, an Assistant District Attorney for Fulton County, and an Associate with McClain, Mellen, Bowling & Hickman. Thrash earned his J.D. degree from Harvard University and his B.A. degree from the University of Virginia. He and his wife, Margaret, have two children and reside in Atlanta.

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