WASHINGTON, DC – President Obama today nominated Judge J. Michelle Childs and Richard Mark Gergel to the District Court bench for the District of South Carolina. Childs currently sits on the South Carolina Circuit Court and Gergel is a principal and senior partner with the firm Gergel, Nickles and Solomon, P.A in Columbia, South Carolina.
“Throughout their careers, Michelle Childs and Richard Gergel have displayed exceptional integrity and an unwavering commitment to justice,” President Obama said. “They will be esteemed additions to the federal bench for the people of South Carolina. I am grateful for their dedication to public service.”
J. Michelle Childs: Nominee for the United States District Court, District of South Carolina
Judge J. Michelle Childs currently sits on the South Carolina Circuit Court, the state’s trial court of general jurisdiction. She serves as the Chief Administrative Judge for General Sessions, the state’s Criminal Court, and a Chief Administrative Judge for the state’s Business Court. Judge Childs has served as an Acting Justice for the South Carolina Supreme Court. Prior to taking the bench in 2006, she was a Commissioner with the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission from 2002 to 2006, and was Deputy Director, Division of Labor of the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation from 2000 to 2002. She has also been in private practice. Judge Childs is a member of the House of Delegates for the American Bar Association and serves on the Standing Committee on Constitution and By-Laws. She is formerly President of the South Carolina Bar’s Young Lawyers Division, and currently serves on the South Carolina Bar’s House of Delegates. Judge Childs received her B.S. from the University of South Florida in 1988, her J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law and her Masters in Personnel and Employment Relations from the University of South Carolina School of Business in 1991.
Richard Mark Gergel: Nominee for the United States District Court, District of South Carolina
Richard Mark Gergel is a principal and senior partner with Gergel, Nickles and Solomon, P.A, in Columbia, South Carolina, where he has specialized in personal injury litigation, employment discrimination matters, and complex government litigation since 1983. Prior to that, he worked as an attorney with Medlock and Davis in South Carolina where he handled employment cases in state and federal court and in administrative proceedings. Gergel has served as President of the Columbia Hebrew Benevolent Society and the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina. He has been listed in “South Carolina Super Lawyers” and in 2001 received the Jonathan Jasper Wright Award from the University of South Carolina Black Law Students Association. Mr. Gergel received his B.A. from Duke University in 1975, and J.D. from Duke in 1979.