President Obama Names Three to the United States District Court

WASHINGTON- Today, President Obama nominated Nannette Jolivette Brown, Wilma Antoinette Lewis, and Nancy Torresen to United States District Court judgeships.

“I am proud to nominate these three outstanding candidates to serve on the United States District Court bench,” said President Obama.  “They all have long and distinguished records of service, and I am confident they will serve on the federal bench with distinction.” 

Nannette Jolivette Brown:  Nominee for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana
Nannette Jolivette Brown is the City Attorney for the City of New Orleans, a role in which she has served since being hired by the mayor in May 2010.  As City Attorney, she provides legal counsel and representation to the mayor, city council, and other city entities, oversees all legal matters in which the city is a party, and negotiates and reviews all city contracts.  She previously served as Director of the city's Department of Sanitation from 1994 to 1996.  Jolivette Brown has also practiced corporate and environmental litigation at several private law firms in Louisiana, including: Adams & Reese LLP, from 1988 to 1992; the Onebane Law Firm from 1996 to 1998; Milling, Benson, Woodward LLP from 2000 to 2003; and at Chaffe McCall LLP from 2004 to 2007 and again from 2009 until 2010.  She has taught at three law schools, serving as a clinical law professor at Tulane Law School in New Orleans from 1992 to 1994, an assistant law professor at Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge from 1998 to 2000, and a clinical law professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law from 2007 to 2009.  She received her LL.M. in Energy and Environment in 1998 and J.D. in 1988, both from Tulane Law School, and her B.A. in 1985 from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now known as University of Louisiana at Lafayette).

Wilma Antoinette Lewis:  Nominee for the District Court of the Virgin Islands
Wilma Antoinette Lewis is the Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management at the United States Department of the Interior, a position she has held since 2009.  Prior to this appointment, she served briefly as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of the Interior.  She previously served as the Department’s Associate Solicitor for General Law from 1993 to 1995 and Inspector General from 1995 to 1998.  From 2007 to 2008, Lewis was the Managing Associate General Counsel for Litigation at the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.  Lewis served as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1998 to 2001, having previously served as an Assistant United States Attorney from 1986 to 1993, during which time she was Assistant Chief of the Civil Division from 1989 to 1993 and Deputy Chief of the Civil Division in 1993.  Lewis also has significant experience in private practice, first as an associate at Steptoe & Johnson LLP from 1981 to 1986 and later as a partner at Crowell & Moring LLP from 2001 to 2007.  Lewis received her J.D. in 1981 from Harvard Law School and her B.A. with distinction in 1978 from Swarthmore College, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Nancy Torresen:  Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Maine
Nancy Torresen serves as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Maine.  Torresen first joined the United States Attorney’s Office in 1990, where she initially handled civil matters involving federal agencies.  In 1994, Torresen was designated to the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division of the Maine Department of the Attorney General, where she was primarily responsible for representing the State of Maine in appeals of serious violent crime convictions.  In 2001, Torresen returned to the United States Attorney’s Office, since which time she has been responsible for investigating and prosecuting federal crimes in the northern half of the District of Maine.  Torresen worked at the law firm of Williams & Connolly in the District of Columbia from 1988 to 1990.  From 1987 to 1988, Torresen served as a law clerk to the Honorable Conrad K. Cyr of the United States District Court for the District of Maine.  She received her J.D. cum laude in 1987 from the University of Michigan Law School and her B.A. cum laude in 1981 from Hope College.