THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                          (Managua, Nicaragua)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                      March 8, 1999

             PRESIDENT CLINTON NOMINATES ROBERT A. KATZMANN, 
         JULIO M. FUENTES, KAREN SCHREIER, W. ALLEN PEPPER, JR., 
                AND M. JAMES LORENZ TO THE FEDERAL BENCH

The President today nominated Robert A. Katzmann to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, Julio M. Fuentes to the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in New Jersey, Karen Schreier to the District of South Dakota, W. Allen Pepper, Jr. to the Northern District of Mississippi, and M. James Lorenz to the Southern District of California.

Mr. Robert A. Katzmann, a native of New York, became Walsh Professor of Government, Professor of Law, and Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University in 1992. After clerking on the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit from 1980 to 1981, Katzmann joined the research staff of the governmental studies program of the Brookings Institution. Since 1986, he has directed the Governance Institute. Mr. Katzmann received his A.B. degree from Columbia College in 1973, his A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University in 1976 and 1978 respectively, and his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1980.

Judge Julio M. Fuentes, of North Caldwell, New Jersey, has been a judge on New Jersey's Superior Court bench in Essex County since 1987. He has rotated through the court's Family Division (1987-90), Criminal Division (1990-92), Civil Division (1992-97; Presiding Judge, 1997), and Chancery Division, and currently sits in the General Equity Division. Prior to becoming a Superior Court judge, he served as a municipal court judge from 1978 to 1987, and was a partner at Fuentes, Plant & Velazquez, where he worked on both civil and criminal litigation matters. A graduate of Southern Illinois University and SUNY-Buffalo School of Law, Judge Fuentes also received masters degrees from New York University in Latin American Studies in 1981 and from Rutgers University in Liberal Studies in 1993.

Ms. Karen Schreier, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has served as the U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota since 1993. Prior to her appointment as U.S. Attorney, she was an associate, then a partner, with the firm of Hagen, Wilka, Schreier and Archer, P.C. from 1982 to 1993. Ms. Schreier clerked for the Honorable Francis Dunn of the South Dakota Supreme Court from 1981 to 1982. She received her A.B. degree in 1976 from St. Louis University, and her J.D. degree in 1981 from St. Louis University School of Law.

Mr. W. Allen Pepper, Jr., of Cleveland, Mississippi, has practiced law in Cleveland since 1968. Mr. Pepper received his B.A. degree in 1963 from the University of Mississippi and his J.D. degree in 1968 from the University of Mississippi School of Law.

Mr. M. James Lorenz, of Del Mar, California, has been a partner with the firm of Lorenz, Alhadeff, Cannon & Rose, LLP, and the various predecessor firms since 1988. Prior to the formation of his current law firm, he was a partner with the firm of Finley, Kumble, & Wagner from 1983 to 1987, and a partner in the firm of Lorenz, Alhadeff, Fellmeth, Arkin & Multer in 1982. Lorenz served as U.S. Attorney from 1980 to 1981, and as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California from 1978 to 1980. He was a Deputy District Attorney for the San Diego County District Attorney's Office from 1966 to 1978. Lorenz received a B.A. degree in 1957 from the University of California at Berkeley and a J.D. degree in 1965 from the California Western School of Law.

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