President Obama nominates Lorna Schofield as N.Y. district court judge

Lorna Schofield’s prospective return to government just got a boost when President Obama on April 25 nominated her as federal district court judge for the Southern District of New York, according to a statement from KAYA.

Article III judges are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. If confirmed, Schofield would be the first Filipino American to serve as an Article III federal judge.

Schofield is a second-generation FilAm. She is an only child raised by her Filipina mother who immigrated to the United States during the post-World War II reconstruction of the Philippines. Schofield grew up in a blue-collar community of the Midwest that featured little diversity. She earned a full tuition scholarship for her undergraduate education at Indiana University and earned her law degree at New York University, where she served on the Law Review.

A litigation partner at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP for almost 20 years, she became the firm’s first minority partner in 1991 and now serves as Of Counsel. Prior to joining Debevoise, she served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the criminal division of the Southern District of New York. She was the first Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) to chair the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association, and the National Law Journal named her one of the nation’s 50 most influential minority lawyers.

“It is exciting to finally see a Filipina American serving as a federal judge,” said KAYA National Co-Chair, Attorney Jason T. Lagria. “Growing up, there were not many Filipino lawyers I could look to as role models, and I hope her nomination inspires members of our community to follow in her footsteps.”

Currently, AAPIs are underrepresented on the federal bench. When Obama took office, there were only eight AAPI Article III federal judges out of 874. In just over three years President Obama has doubled the number of AAPI federal judges.

“His nomination of Schofield affirms his administration’s commitment to the Filipino American community and to have a judiciary that reflects the nation it serves,” the statement said.



One Comment

  1. M. Matthews wrote:

    Yes, indeed, a very good news!

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