resident Bush on Thursday nominated Jeffrey White, a longtime litigator at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, to the federal bench in San Francisco.
White was Orrick's national litigation chair for 15 years, representing several Silicon Valley companies or their executives. He has also served as a trial lawyer in the Justice Department's public integrity section and was criminal chief of the U.S. attorney's office in Maryland.
"I'm obviously very pleased and grateful to the president and the senators for putting their faith in me," White said. "I look forward to getting on the bench ... and making a contribution to the legal community."
But molasses has nothing on the pace of judicial confirmations recently, and there's no telling how long it will be before White takes the bench. The Justice Department recently gave Kevin Ryan an "interim" appointment as U.S. attorney while he waits for a floor vote.
White is the first judicial nominee from the Northern District's bipartisan judicial selection committee. The vacancy was created when Charles Legge left for JAMS, a private dispute resolution company, more than a year ago.
Two nominees in the Central District that were the product of a similar process there are already on the bench. Since the White House is controlled by Republicans and California's two Democratic senators must sign off on nominees, the committees were formed to avoid ideological disputes.
"The committee that reviewed him held him in very high regard -- approved him without dissent," said Sam Chapman, chief of staff for Sen. Barbara Boxer. "We have only heard good things about him."
White has taught a civil trial advocacy class at Boalt Hall School of Law for 20 years. He represented Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison in a high-profile employment case involving a former company executive. Early in his career, he also completed stints in the Justice Department's labor racketeering sector and was an assistant U.S. attorney.
"Jeff White will make a superb addition to the federal bench," said Orrick Chairman Ralph Baxter Jr. "He is an ideal nominee for the district court. He is a great trial lawyer, truly fair and balanced, and has an innate drive to see justice done."
