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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release January 27, 1998

                       PRESIDENT CLINTON NOMINATES 
                       TWELVE TO THE FEDERAL BENCH 
                  AND ONE TO THE D.C. COURT OF APPEALS

President Clinton today nominated three individuals to serve on the United States Courts of Appeals, seven individuals to serve on the United States District Courts, two individuals to serve on the Court of International Trade, and one individual to serve on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

Kim McLane Wardlaw, Ninth Circuit, California

Judge Wardlaw, of Pasadena, California, received her A.B. in communications studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1976. She received her J.D. in 1979, from UCLA School of Law, where she was an Articles Editor for the UCLA Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif. Following law school, she clerked for U.S. District Court Judge William P. Gray, in the Central District of California. In 1980, Judge Wardlaw joined the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers as a litigation associate. In 1987, she became a partner at O'Melveny, where she practiced until January 1996, when she assumed her current position as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Marsha L. Berzon, Ninth Circuit, California

Ms. Berzon, of Berkeley, California, is a partner in the law firm of Altshuler, Berzon, Nussbaum, Berzon & Rubin. She received her B.A. cum laude from Radcliffe College in 1966, and her J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review, in 1973. Following law school, she clerked for Ninth Circuit Judge James Browning from 1973 to 1974, and Supreme Court Justice William Brennan from 1974 to 1975. She then practiced at the Washington D.C. firm of Woll & Meyer for two years. She joined her current firm, as of counsel when it was founded in 1978, and became a partner in 1990.

John D. Kelly, Eighth Circuit, North Dakota

Mr. Kelly, of Fargo, North Dakota, received his college degree from St. John's University, Minnesota in 1956, and his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1959, where he graduated with honors and was an assistant editor of the law review. After law school, Mr. Kelly served as a Second Lieutenant in the Air Force, where he was assigned to the Office of the General Counsel, Secretary of the Air Force. He completed active duty service in 1962, as a First Lieutenant, receiving an Honorable Discharge from the United States Air Force as a Captain in 1974. In 1962, Mr. Kelly joined the Vogel Law Firm and has remained at the firm for the past thirty-five years. Since 1978, he has been the President of the firm.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

Robert G. James, Western District of Louisiana

Judge James, of Ruston, Louisiana, has been a judge on the Ruston City Court since 1985. He received his B.A. from Louisiana Tech University in 1968 and his J.D. from Louisiana State University Law School in 1971. Following law school, Judge James joined the law firm of Barham, Wright, Barham and Dawkins, where he was first an associate, and then a partner. In addition to his judicial duties, Judge James has been a solo practitioner on a part-time basis since 1985, and an adjunct Business Law instructor at Louisiana Tech University since 1992.

Johnnie B. Rawlinson, District of Nevada

Ms. Rawlinson, of Las Vegas, Nevada, received her B.S. degree, summa cum laude, from North Carolina A&T State University in 1974, and her J.D. degree from University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in 1979. Following law school, Ms. Rawlinson clerked for the law firm of Keefer, Clark & O'Reilly in Las Vegas. In 1980, she became a staff attorney with Nevada Legal Services. Later that year, she joined the District Attorney's Office as a Deputy District Attorney, handling civil litigation on behalf of Clark County. In 1989, she was promoted to Chief Deputy District Attorney, and in 1995, she became Assistant District Attorney.

Gregory M. Sleet, District of Delaware

Mr. Sleet, of Wilmington, Delaware, received his B.A. degree from Hampton University in 1973, and his J.D. degree from Rutgers University School of Law in 1976. In 1994, President Clinton appointed Mr. Sleet to serve as the United States Attorney for the District of Delaware. Mr. Sleet began his legal career as an Assistant Public Defender for the Defender Association of Philadelphia where he served from 1976 to 1983. In 1983, he joined the law firm of LaCheen & Alva. He then practiced at his own firm, Sleet & Phillips in 1986, and later, Sleet & Farrell from 1987to 1988. In 1989, Mr. Sleet worked for the law firm of Harper & Paul, and then moved into a solo practice for one year in 1990. He served as a Deputy Attorney General for the Department of Justice for the State of Delaware from 1990 to 1992. Before his appointment as United States Attorney, he served as counsel to Hercules Incorporated from 1992 to 1994.

Richard W. Roberts, District of Columbia

Mr. Roberts, of Washington, D.C., received an A.B. degree, cum laude, from Vassar College in 1974, an M.I.A. degree from the School of International Training in 1978, and a J.D. from Columbia Law School in 1978. Since 1995, Mr. Roberts has served as the Chief of the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, the same office where he began his legal career as a trial attorney in 1978. From 1982 to 1986, Mr. Roberts practiced with the law firm of Covington & Burling as an associate, and then served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York from 1986 to 1988. Before assuming his current position, Mr. Roberts served first as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and then as Principal Assistant U.S. Attorney, for the District of Columbia from 1988 to 1995.

James W. Klein, District of Columbia

Mr. Klein, of Washington,. D.C., received his B.A. degree, cum laude, from Harvard College in 1971, and his J.D. degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1978. Following law school, Mr. Klein joined the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, first serving as a staff attorney from 1978 to 1983, and then as Chief of the Appellate Division from 1983 to present. In addition to conducting training courses for the Federal Judiciary Center in Washington, D.C., he has been a professor of the trial advocacy workshop at Harvard Law School since 1989.

Stephan P. Mickle, Northern District of Florida

Judge Mickle, of Tallahassee, Florida, received his B.A. in 1965, and his M.Ed. in 1966, from the University of Florida, and his J.D. in 1970, from the University of Florida College of Law. Since 1993, Judge Mickle has served on the First District Court of Appeal for the State of Florida. Before being appointed to his current position, Judge Mickle served from 1984 to 1992, as a Circuit Judge for the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida, and from 1979 to 1984 as a judge for the Alachua County Court. Prior to joining the State Court bench, Judge Mickle was a solo practitioner from 1976 to 1979, a partner in the law firm of Mickle, Harris, Green & Woolford, P.A. from 1972 to 1976, and an associate with the law firm of W. George Allen in 1971. In addition, Judge Mickle has been an adjunct professor at the University of Florida College of Law since 1971 and at Florida State University College of Law since 1993.

William P. Dimitrouleas, Southern District of Florida

Judge Dimitrouleas, of Washington, D.C., received his B.A. in 1973, from Furman University, and his J.D. in 1975, from the University of Florida College of Law. Since 1989, Judge Dimitrouleas has served on the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida. Before his appointment to the bench, he served as an Assistant State Attorney for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit of Florida from 1977 to 1989, an Assistant Public Defender for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit of Florida from 1976 to 1977, and as an intern for the Public Defender's Office for the Eighth Judicial Circuit of Florida in 1975.

COURT OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Judith M. Barzilay, Court of International Trade

Ms. Barzilay, of Teaneck, New Jersey, received her B.A. degree from Wichita State University in 1965, her masters degree in Library and Information Science from Rutgers University in 1971, and her law degree from Rutgers University in 1981. After law school she was a law clerk for Judge Robert Tarleton, New Jersey Superior Court from 1981 to 1982; and from 1982 to 1983, she was an attorney at Williams, Caliri, Miller and Otley, in Wayne, New Jersey. Ms. Barzilay began her career in international trade law in 1983, as a staff attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice's International Trade Field Office in New York City. From 1986 to 1988, Ms. Barzilay was a senior litigation associate in the New York firm of Siegel, Mandell & Davidson. In 1988, Ms. Barzilay joined Sony Corporation in Park Ridge, New Jersey, as Sony's first in-house international trade attorney. From 1989 to 1995, she was Vice-President of Import-Export Operations and Compliance, charged with the task of building a professional group to handle these functions for Sony's multi-billion dollar import and export activity. Since 1996, she has served as Vice-President for Government Affairs.

Delissa Ridgway, Court of International Trade

Ms. Ridgway, of Washington, D.C., received her B.A. with honors in 1975, from the University of Missouri and completed one year of course work toward an M.S. in Community/International Development at the University of Missouri. She graduated from Northeastern University School of Law in 1979. Following law school, Ms. Ridgway joined the law firm of Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge. In 1994, Ridgway was appointed by President Clinton as the chairperson of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, a quasi-judicial federal agency under the administrative oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice. She served as an adjunct professor of International Law at American University's Washington College of Law from 1992 to 1994, where she taught International Commercial Arbitration and International Business Transactions.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURT OF APPEALS

Emilio W. Cividanes, D.C. Court of Appeals

Mr. Cividanes, of Washington, D.C., is of counsel to the law firm Piper & Marbury, L.L.P. Since 1991, Mr. Cividanes has taught information privacy law as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center. Before joining Piper & Marbury as an associate in 1988, he served one year as counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Technology & the Law, under then-Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy. From 1983 to 1986, he was a civil litigation associate with the law firm of Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin. Mr. Cividanes received his B.A. in 1979, from Haverford College and his J.D. in 1983, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he was a comment editor on the Law Review.