A San Francisco lawyer and former U.S. Justice Department official was confirmed to a judgeship on the U.S. District Court in San Francisco by the U.S. Senate today.
William H. Orrick III, whose 60th birthday is today, was approved by a 56-41 vote of the Senate.
Orrick is the son of the late U.S. District Judge William Orrick Jr. of San Francisco, who served on the federal bench from 1974 until his death in 2003.
His grandfather, William Orrick Sr., was a partner in the San Francisco law firm now called Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe.
Elsewhere
Senate confirms Orrick as federal judge [Chron]
Before joining the Justice Department in 2009, Orrick III was in private practice for more than 25 years in the San Francisco law firm of Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP. He rejoined the firm as special counsel in August.
In the Justice Department, Orrick served initially as a counselor to the assistant attorney general in charge of the Civil Division, and later became head of the division’s immigration litigation unit.
Orrick was initially nominated by President Obama last year but his nomination was not taken up by the full Senate. Obama renominated him in January.
The San Francisco-based U.S. District Court for Northern California, which has branches in Oakland and San Jose, has jurisdiction over federal civil and criminal cases in the Bay Area and coastal California from Monterey County to the Oregon border.
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., who recommended Orrick for the post, said, “William Orrick will be an outstanding addition to the Northern District bench.
“He brings a depth of legal experience in both the public and private sectors,” Boxer said.
Julia Cheever, Bay City News
