For further information contact:
The Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan, Chair
202-354-3260
jnc@dcd.uscourts.gov
The District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission ("Commission") has forwarded to President Barack Obama the names of three lawyers for his consideration in selecting a nominee to fill a judicial vacancy on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The President has sixty (60) days to select a nominee to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of the Honorable Rafael Diaz.
The Commission recommends the following three candidates to fill the vacancy:
Jeffrey S. Gutman is a Professor of Clinical Law at The George Washington University (GW) Law School. Since 1994, he has directed two of the Law School's legal clinics and has taught Civil Procedure. Mr. Gutman's practice has ranged from constitutional and statutory challenges to the administration of government programs to representing low-income individuals in employment, disability, guardianship, conservatorship and probate cases. Mr. Gutman served as Assistant and, later, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at GW Law School from 2000 to 2008. He is the Editor in Chief of the Federal Practice Manual for Legal Aid Attorneys, published by the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law in Chicago. From 1987 to 1994, he served as a Trial Attorney with the Federal Programs Branch, Civil Division, US Department of Justice. At the Department of Justice, Mr. Gutman defended federal government departments and agencies in complex constitutional and administrative law challenges to federal statutes, regulations and other government action in trial courts throughout the country. After law school, he served as a
law clerk to the late Earl B. Gilliam, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of California. Mr. Gutman earned a law degree from Harvard Law School and an undergraduate degree from Stanford University.
Sharon L. Larkin is a Deputy Assistant General Counsel at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in the agency's Procurement Law Division, and she is also a member of GAO's Contract Appeals Board. In these positions, she presides over and resolves bid protests and contract appeals involving disputes between federal agencies and private contractors. Ms. Larkin has issued more than eighty-five published decisions, presided over more than twenty-five hearings and trials, and conducted more than thirty-five alternative dispute resolution (ADR) or mediation sessions. She has won numerous awards for her public service. Ms. Larkin is an active member of the American Bar Association's Section of Public Contract Law and has held a number of leadership positions in the Section. She also volunteers for and supports a number of local charities. Ms. Larkin received her undergraduate degree from the Albany College of Pharmacy, and her law degree, magna cum laude, from Suffolk University Law School, where she served on the law review. Following law school, Ms. Larkin clerked for the Honorable Moody R. Tidwell, III, of the US Court of Federal Claims.
Elizabeth J. Shapiro is a Deputy Director in the Civil Division of United States Department of Justice, Federal Programs Branch. She has served in the Department of Justice since 1991, defending the government against a wide variety of constitutional and statutory challenges. In 2001, Ms. Shapiro was named to the Civil Division's Terrorism Task Force. During her tenure, she also served as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Texas prosecuting a major national security case. Prior to joining the Department of Justice, she served as an appellate attorney in the Office of the Solicitor, United States Department of Labor. Ms. Shapiro is regarded as an expert in the area of government information and privileges, and regularly teaches classes for the D.C. Bar. She has received numerous awards throughout her career. Ms. Shapiro received her undergraduate degree in 1982 from the University of Michigan and her law degree from Georgetown University in 1986. Following law school, she clerked for the Honorable Stephen F. Eilperin of the Superior Court for the District of Columbia.