Press Release - President Obama Nominates Eight to Serve on United States District Courts

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, President Obama nominated Judge Patricia D. Barksdale, Judge Todd E. Edelman, William F. Jung, Judge Philip R. Lammens, Judge Florence Y. Pan, Regina M. Rodriguez, Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson, and Anne Rachel Traum to serve on the United States District Courts.

"Throughout their careers, these nominees have displayed unwavering commitment to justice and integrity," said President Obama. "Their records are distinguished and impressive, and I am confident that they will serve the American people well from the United States District Court bench. I am honored to nominate them today."

Judge Patricia D. Barksdale: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida

Judge Patricia D. Barksdale has served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida since 2013. Prior to her appointment as a Magistrate Judge, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida from 2005 to 2013, during which she served as Senior Litigation Counsel from 2011 to 2013. From 2004 to 2005, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Timothy J. Corrigan of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Judge Barksdale worked as counsel for CSX Transportation, Inc. from 2000 to 2004 and as an associate in the Jacksonville, Florida office of McGuire Woods, LLP from 1997 to 2000. She began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Emmett R. Cox of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from 1996 to 1997. Judge Barksdale received her J.D. Order of the Coif and with high honors from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 1996 and her B.A. from the University of Florida in 1993.

Judge Todd E. Edelman: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia

Judge Todd E. Edelman has served as an Associate Judge on the Superior Court for the District of Columbia since 2010. Prior to his appointment to the court, from 2008 to 2010, he was a Visiting Associate Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. From 2005 to 2008, he was of counsel at the law firm Bredhoff & Kaiser, P.L.L.C. in Washington, D.C. He worked for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia from 1997 to 2005, during which time he served as a Staff Attorney for the Trial Division from 1997 to 2001, a Supervising Attorney for the Trial Division from 2001 to 2002, the Chief of the Serious Felony Section from 2002 to 2004, and the Training Director from 2004 to 2005. From 1995 to 1997, he was an E. Barrett Prettyman Fellow at Georgetown University Law Center. Judge Edelman began his legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable William B. Bryant of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from 1994 to 1995. He received his J.D. cum laude from New York University School of Law in 1994 and his B.A. cum laude from Yale University in 1990. 

William F. Jung: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida

William F. Jung is a partner at the law firm of Jung & Sisco, P.A. (formerly Black & Jung, P.A.) in Tampa, Florida, which he co-founded in 1993. He specializes in white collar criminal defense and complex civil litigation. Prior to starting his own firm, Jung served as an Assistant United States Attorney for six years – first in the Southern District of Florida from 1987 to 1990 and subsequently in the Middle District of Florida from 1990 to 1993. From 1985 to 1987, he was an associate for the Tampa, Florida office of Carlton Fields Jorden Burt, P.A. From 1984 to 1985, he served as a law clerk to then-Justice William H. Rehnquist of the Supreme Court of the United States. Jung began his legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Gerald Tjoflat of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. He received his J.D. summa cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1983 and his B.A. magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 1980.

Judge Philip R. Lammens: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida

Judge Philip R. Lammens has served as a United States Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida since 2012. Prior to his appointment as a Magistrate Judge, from 2008 to 2012, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida. From 2006 to 2008, he served as Assistant General Counsel for the City of Jacksonville's Office of General Counsel. Judge Lammens worked in the United States Department of Justice's Civil Division's Torts Branch Constitutional and Specialized Tort Litigation Section from 2005 to 2006. Prior to joining the Department of Justice, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Joel F. Dubina of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit from 2004 to 2005. Judge Lammens began his legal career serving as a law clerk to the Honorable William Terrell Hodges of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida from 2002 to 2004. He received his J.D. Order of the Coif and with high honors from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2002 and his B.A. with high honors from the University of Florida in 1999.

Judge Florence Y. Pan: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia

Judge Florence Y. Pan has served as an Associate Judge on the Superior Court for the District of Columbia since 2009. Prior to joining the court, from 1999 to 2009, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, where she also served as Deputy Chief of the Appellate Division from 2007 to 2009. From 1998 to 1999, she worked at the United States Department of Treasury, first as a Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Financial Markets in 1998 and subsequently as a Senior Advisor to the Undersecretary for Domestic Finance in 1999. Judge Pan worked for the United States Department of Justice from 1995 to 1998, during which time she was a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General from 1995 to 1996 and an attorney in the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division from 1996 to 1998. From 1994 to 1995, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Ralph K. Winter, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Judge Pan began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Michael B. Mukasey of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1993 to 1994. She received her J.D. with distinction from Stanford Law School in 1993 and her B.A. and B.S. summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1988.

Regina M. Rodriguez: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Colorado

Regina M. Rodriguez is a partner in the Denver, Colorado office of Hogan Lovells US LLP, where she specializes in mass tort and product liability defense. Previously, from 2002 to 2016, she worked in the Denver office of Faegre & Benson LLP (now Faegre Baker Daniels LLP) as a special counsel until she was elevated to partner in 2005. She served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado from 1995 to 2002, during which time she served as the Deputy Chief of the Civil Division from 1998 to 1999 and as Chief of the Civil Division from 1999 to 2002. In addition, from 1997 to 1998, she served a four-month detail as Deputy Senior Counsel for Alternative Dispute Resolution in the United States Department of Justice. Rodriguez began her legal career as an associate in the Denver law firm of Cooper & Kelly, P.C. (now defunct) from 1988 to 1995. She received her J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law in 1988 and her B.S. with honors from the University of Iowa in 1985.

Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina

Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson has served as the Vice Chair of the United States Commission on Civil Rights since 2015 and Commissioner from 2014 to 2015. Prior to her appointment to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, she served as an Associate Justice for the Supreme Court of North Carolina from 2006 to 2012. From 1997 to 2005, she served as an Associate Judge for the North Carolina Court of Appeals. From 1984 to 1997, she served as a State District Court Judge for the North Carolina District Court for the Twelfth Judicial District. Prior to her judicial service, from 1983 to 1984, Justice Timmons-Goodson was a staff attorney for Lumbee River Legal Services. From 1981 to 1983, she served as an assistant district attorney for the Office of the District Attorney for the Twelfth Judicial District. She began her career working as a district manager for the United States Census Bureau's Charlotte Regional Office from 1979 to 1980. Justice Timmons-Goodson received her J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1979 and her B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1976. She also received an L.L.M. in Judicial Studies from Duke University School of Law in 2014.

Anne Rachel Traum: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Nevada

Anne Rachel Traum is a Professor of Law at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law. She is currently on leave from the law school and serving as Special Counsel in the Office for Access to Justice at the United States Department of Justice. Professor Traum joined the University of Nevada-Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law faculty in 2008, and she has served as the Director of the Appellate Clinic since 2009. She also served as the Associate Dean for Experiential Legal Education from 2013 to 2015. From 2002 to 2008, Professor Traum served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Federal Public Defender's Office in Las Vegas, Nevada. She served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada from 2000 to 2002, while on detail from the Environmental and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice, where she worked from 1998 to 2000. She began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Stanwood R. Duval, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Professor Traum received her J.D. Order of the Coif and cum laude from the University of California, Hastings College of Law in 1996 and her A.B. with honors from Brown University in 1991.