President Obama Names Two to U.S. Circuit Courts

WASHINGTON- Today, President Obama nominated Caitlin Halligan for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and Jimmie V. Reyna to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

“At every step of their careers these individuals have performed with excellence and unwavering integrity,” said President Obama.  “I am confident they will serve the American people with distinction on the Circuit Court bench.”

Caitlin Halligan: Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

Caitlin Halligan is General Counsel for the New York County District Attorney’s Office.  She is a nationally-recognized appellate litigator who has practiced extensively before the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and the appellate courts of the State of New York.

After graduating from law school, Ms. Halligan served as a law clerk to Judge Patricia M. Wald on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1995 to 1996, and subsequently to Justice Stephen G. Breyer during the Supreme Court’s 1997-98 term.  She was an associate at the law firm of Wiley, Rein, and Fielding in Washington, D.C., from 1996 to 1997, and at the law firm of Howard, Smith & Levin LLP in New York in 1998.  In 1999, Ms. Halligan joined the Office of the New York State Attorney General, where she initially served as the Office’s first Chief of the Internet Bureau, overseeing legal matters regarding privacy, online consumer fraud and securities trading, and other Internet-related issues.  In 2001, she became First Deputy Solicitor General of New York, and later that year was appointed Solicitor General of New York State.  As Solicitor General through 2006, Ms. Halligan managed a staff more than 40 appellate attorneys representing New York in federal and state appellate courts.  Her national peers selected her in each year from 2001 to 2005 to receive the “Best Brief” award from the National Association of Attorneys General.  In 2007, Ms. Halligan became a partner at the firm of Weil, Gotshal and Manges, LLP, in New York, where she led the firm’s appellate practice until she returned to public service in her current role in January 2010.

Ms. Halligan has served as adjunct faculty at Columbia Law School since 2005, where she teaches an advanced seminar on federalism and constitutional law. From 2007 to 2009, she served as pro bono counsel to the Board of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the entity that is overseeing the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Ms. Halligan was born in Xenia, Ohio, and grew up in several different states, including Arkansas, Missouri, and Pennsylvania.  She received her A.B. with honors from Princeton University in 1988 and her J.D. with high honors in 1995 from Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as managing editor of the Georgetown Law Journal.

Jimmie V. Reyna: Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Jimmie Reyna is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Williams Mullen, PC.  He is a renowned international trade lawyer respected for his deep expertise in trade policy, business regulation, and compliance law. He also has a distinguished track record of leadership in the Hispanic legal community.

Reyna joined Williams Mullen as a partner in 1998.  Previously, he practiced with the firm of Stewart and Stewart starting as an associate in 1986 and becoming a partner in 1993.  His Washington, D.C.-based practice has emphasized work on antidumping and countervailing duty cases, as well as trade policy and trade negotiation matters.  Reyna began his legal career in New Mexico as an associate at the insurance defense law firm of Shaffer Butt, Thornton & Baer from 1979-1981, and he had his own law practice in Albuquerque from 1981 to 1986, handling civil rights, domestic relations, immigration, and criminal law matters, in many instances on a pro bono basis.

As a recognized expert in the field of international trade law, Reyna has since 1994 been a U.S. panelist for disputes arising under Chapter 19 of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), addressing antidumping and countervailing duty cases.  He also has been on the U.S. Indicative List of Non-Governmental Dispute Settlement Panelists for disputes arising under the dispute settlement mechanism of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 1995.  He has published two books on international trade, and has a third, International Trade Laws and Customs Regulations of Latin America, slated for publication later this year.

Reyna served as National President of the Hispanic National Bar Association (HNBA) in 2006-07, and has held several leadership positions on American Bar Association (ABA) committees and sections.  He has served on numerous boards and councils, including those of the Community Services for Autistic Adults and Children, the Advisory Council of the Mid-Atlantic Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, the HNBA Foundation, the U.S.-Mexico Law Institute, the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce, and the Hispanic Culture Foundation.  He was honored with the HNBA’s Extraordinary Leadership award in 2007, and has been named to the “Super Lawyers” list in Washington, DC (2007, 2009, 2010) and nationally (2009), as well as to the “Best Lawyers in America” list (2010 and 2011).

Reyna was born and raised in New Mexico.  He received his B.A. from the University of Rochester in 1975 and his J.D. from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 1978.