President Barack Obama nominated McConnell on March 10 for one of Rhode Island’s three district judge slots. The committee is expected to vote on McConnell’s nomination on June 17.

McConnell, the Providence, R.I., managing partner of Mount Pleasant, S.C.-based Motley Rice, led his firm’s contingency work for the state on the lead paint litigation, which was based on the theory that the paint created a “public nuisance.”