Shira Scheindlin
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Shira A. Scheindlin (born 1946 in Washington, D.C.) is a United States District Court judge for the Southern District of New York. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on July 28, 1994 to a seat vacated by Louis J. Freeh, confirmed by the United States Senate on September 28, 1994, and commissioned on September 29, 1994.
Scheindlin is known for her intellectual acumen, demanding courtroom demeanor, aggressive interpretations of the law, and expertise in mass torts, electronic discovery, and complex litigation.[1]
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[edit] Education
Scheindlin received her Bachelor's Degree in Far Eastern Studies from University of Michigan (1967), her Master's Degree in History from Columbia University (1969), and her J.D. from Cornell University (1975). Scheindlin had the highest grade point average of her law school class.
[edit] Pre-judicial career[2]
Before taking her current seat on the Southern District, Scheindlin worked as a prosecutor, commercial lawyer, and judge. She was a clerk for federal judge Charles L. Brieant, and from 1977 to 1981 was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. From 1981 to 1982, she was General Counsel for the New York City Department of Investigation. Starting in 1982, and continuing through 1984, she served as special master in the agent orange mass tort litigation. From 1992 to 1994, she was special master for another mass torts case involving property damaged by asbestos.
As a commercial lawyer, Scheindlin worked for Stroock & Stroock & Lavan (1975-76), Budd Larner Gross Rosenbaum Greenberg & Sade (1986-90), and Herzfeld & Rubin, P.C. (1990-94).
[edit] Important cases
During her tenure, Scheindlin has presided over a number of high profile cases, many of which advanced important new positions in the interpretation of the Constitution or federal law.
- In April 2002, in the case United States v. Osama Awadallah,[3] after Awadallah testified before a grand jury that he had met with two of the September 11, 2001 hijackers, but could not remember their names, Scheindlin dismissed a perjury charge against him and found that Awadallah's prolonged detention without actual criminal charges was based on misrepresentations and omissions by the government and could not be justified under existing law. Her decision was later reversed on appeal.
- In February 2004 in the case Maurice Clarett v. National Football League,[4] Scheindlin, accepting the antitrust-law arguments raised by lawyer Alan C. Milstein, ruled that the NFL could not bar Clarett from participating in the 2004 NFL Draft. This decision was overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the case was not heard by the Supreme Court.
- In April 2004, in the case Zubulake v. UBS Warburg,[5] Scheindlin sanctioned UBS for not being able to complete their E-Discovery of potentially informative documents, and not complying with their litigation hold on the destruction of documents. Due to this, the defense was not able to present documents to their defense, and lost the $29 million promotion discrimination case. This case has been seen as revolutionary in the legal realms of human resources and computer forensics, as the burden of proof was effectively shifted to the defendant for their inability to produce documents in a timely manner, and the presentation to the jury of an adverse inference.
- Judge Scheindlin presided over three trials of John Gotti Jr. ("Junior"), each of which ended in a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury.[6] The principle charge against Gotti in the trials was racketeering conspiracy stemming from Gotti's alleged management of the Gambino crime family following the incarceration and death of his father, John Gotti Sr. (the "Dapper Don"). "On September 20, 2005, the jury acquitted him of securities fraud and hung 11-1 for conviction on racketeering charges that included the assault on Sliwa. His re-trial on the remaining charges the following March also ended in a mistrial, with the jury hung 8-4 for acquittal. At the third trial involving the Sliwa assault, prosecutors convinced 12 jurors that Junior had ordered the kidnapping but failed to convince them that he had engaged in criminal activity after 1999 and the jury again deadlocked on the racketeering charges, this time voting 8-4 for conviction."[7]
[edit] External links
- Biography from the Federal Judicial Center
- Judge denies NFL's request in Clarett case from NFL.com
- Clarett turns to Supreme Court from NFL.com
- UBS Must Pay Ex-Saleswoman $9.1 Mln in Sex Bias Case (Update2) from Bloomberg (April 6, 2005)
[edit] References
- ^ Almanac of the Federal Judiciary, 2005
- ^ Id.
- ^ See 202 F. Supp. 2d 55 (2002).
- ^ See 306 F. Supp. 2d 379 (2004).
- ^ See 382 F. Supp. 2d 536 (2005); 231 F.R.D. 159 (2005).
- ^ http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/09/26/gotti.retrial.ap/
- ^ http://www.ganglandnews.com/gottijr.htm
