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

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Obama nominated Mary Barzee Flores and Julien Xavier Neals to serve on the United States District Courts.

"I am honored to put forward these highly qualified candidates for the federal bench," President Obama said. "They will be distinguished public servants and valuable additions to the United States District Court."

Mary Barzee Flores: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida

Mary Barzee Flores has been a shareholder at Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A. since 2011, where her practice consists of complex commercial and employment litigation. From 2003 to 2011, she served as a circuit judge on the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida in Miami, where she presided over both criminal and civil matters. Prior to joining the bench, she worked in the Federal Public Defender's Office of the Southern District of Florida from 1990 to 2003, serving first as an Assistant Federal Public Defender and then as a Supervisory Assistant Federal Public Defender. She began her career as an associate at Sonnett, Sale and Kuehne, P.A. She received her J.D. cum laude from the University of Miami Law School in 1988 and her B. Mus. from the University of Miami School of Music in 1985.

Julien Xavier Neals: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey

Julien Xavier Neals currently serves as County Counsel for Bergen County, New Jersey, a position he has held since January 2015. Previously, in 2014 and from 1992 to 2006, he worked at Chasan Leyner & Lamparello, P.C., where he practiced general litigation in state and federal courts. From 2006 to 2014, he worked for the City of Newark, serving as Business Administrator from 2010 to 2014, Corporation Counsel from 2008 to 2010, and Chief Judge of the Newark Municipal Court from 2006 to 2008. Neals began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Seymour Margulies on the New Jersey Superior Court in Hudson County from 1991 to 1992. He received his J.D. from Emory University School of Law in 1991 and his B.A. from Morehouse College in 1982.