Ex-Wilmer Partner Among Biden's Latest District Court Picks - Mr. Mark Smith, LL.M., CLDP Certified Legal Document Preparer

President Joe Biden announced four judicial nominees on Wednesday morning to serve in district courts in New York, California and South Dakota. President Joe Biden, shown here on Jan. 6, announced four new judicial nominees Wednesday. (Alex Wong/Getty Images) The nominees are U.S. Magistrate Judge Sanket J. Bulsara for the Eastern District of New York, Judge Dena Michaela Coggins for the Eastern District of California, Eric Schulte, partner at Davenport Evans Hurwitz & Smith LLP, for the District of South Dakota and Judge Camela Theeler for the District of South Dakota. Judge Bulsara has served on the Eastern District of New York since 2017 and became the first South Asian American to serve on any court within the Second Circuit, according to his court bio. Before serving on the bench, he was deputy general counsel for appellate litigation, adjudication, and enforcement and then acting general counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Judge Bulsara also rose through the ranks to become a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, served a brief stint as special assistant district attorney at the Kings County (Brooklyn) District Attorney's Office and was an associate at Munger Tolles & Olson LLP. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he clerked for Judge John G. Koeltl on the Southern District of New York, the White House announcement said. Judge Coggins has been the presiding judge for the Juvenile Court of the Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento since 2023 and a superior court judge since 2021, according to an announcement from the court.  She was previously an administrative law judge for the State of California's Office of Administrative Hearings in the general jurisdiction and special education divisions, the White House said. Judge Coggins has also served as a supervising attorney and hearing officer at the State of California Victim Compensation Board and deputy legal affairs secretary for the governor of California. In addition to her government work, she was an associate at Downey Brand LLP and at Morrison Foerster LLP, the White House said. Judge Coggins received her law degree from the University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law. Schulte has been a partner at Davenport Evans Hurwitz & Smith LLP since 2006 and before that was an associate there for five years, his firm bio states. Earlier in his career, he was a law clerk for the South Dakota Second Judicial Circuit in Sioux Falls. Schulte graduated from the University of South Dakota School of Law, his bio said. Judge Theeler has served on the Second Judicial Circuit of the South Dakota Unified Judicial System since 2018. She was previously an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of South Dakota, an associate then a partner at Lynn Jackson Shultz & Lebrun PC, and an associate at Morgan Theeler Law Firm LLP. Judge Theeler clerked for the First Judicial Circuit of the South Dakota Unified Judicial System after receiving her law degree from the University of South Dakota School of Law, according to the White House. Biden also announced on Wednesday his intent to nominate Col. John E. Richardson, executive assistant to the president of Alabama State University, to serve as U.S. Marshal for the Middle District of Alabama. Law360 is tracking Biden's judicial nominees from the White House to the Senate to the federal bench.