President Barack Obama has nominated Thomas M. Durkin (JD '78) to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
"I am honored to put forward this highly qualified candidate for the federal bench,” President Obama says in an official White House statement. “He will be a distinguished public servant and valuable addition to the United States District Court."
Durkin is a partner at Mayer Brown LLP in Chicago, where he handles a broad array of matters including complex commercial litigation and white collar criminal defense. Prior to joining Mayer Brown in 1993, Durkin served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Illinois for over a decade. During that time, he served in numerous leadership positions, including chief of the Special Prosecutions Division, chief of the Criminal Receiving and Appellate Division, and first assistant U.S. attorney. From 1978 to 1980, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Stanley J. Roszkowski of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Durkin has the support of U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mark Kirk (R-IL).
"Thomas Durkin is an outstanding candidate for a federal judgeship in the Northern District and I am pleased that President Obama has nominated him today. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated strong leadership in his community and a solid commitment to public service. I will be working with Senator Kirk to see his nomination approved by the Senate," says Durbin, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who forwarded Durkin's name to President Obama in 2009 based on the recommendation of a bipartisan screening committee chaired by former federal judge and Illinois Congressman Abner Mikva.
Durkin also was one of Kirk's judicial recommendations submitted to the White House in July 2011.
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