Paul L. Friedman

Paul Friedman
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Incumbent
Assumed office December 31, 2009
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia
In office June 16, 1994 – December 31, 2009
Appointed by	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Gerhard Gesell
Succeeded by	Beryl A. Howell
Personal details
Born	(1944-02-20) February 20, 1944 Buffalo, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	Cornell University University at Buffalo Law School

Paul L. Friedman (born February 20, 1944) is a federal judge on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. He serves as Secretary of the American Law Institute.

Education

Friedman was born in Buffalo, New York. He received a B.A. from Cornell University in 1965, where he was president of the Quill and Dagger society and a member of Zeta Beta Tau. He received a J.D. from University at Buffalo Law School in 1968.

Career

Friedman began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Aubrey Robinson of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from 1968 to 1969, and then for Roger Robb, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1969 to 1970. He was an assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1970 to 1974. He was an Assistant U.S. solicitor general from 1974 to 1976. He was in private practice of law at the firm of White & Case in Washington, D.C. from 1976 to 1994.

In June 1984, Friedman was elected to the American Law Institute and was elected to the ALI Council in October 1998. He began his first three-year term as ALI Secretary in 2013.

Judicial appointment

Friedman was nominated by President Bill Clinton on March 22, 1994, to a seat vacated by Gerhard A. Gesell. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 15, 1994, and received his commission on June 16, 1994. He assumed senior status on December 31, 2009.

Among Friedman's notable cases is the continuing supervision of John Hinckley, Jr., the would-be assassin of President Ronald Reagan. Friedman has issued rulings that relaxed the restrictions on Hinckley by allowing him to leave the grounds of St. Elizabeths Hospital to spend more days each month visiting his mother’s home town of Williamsburg, Virginia.

External links

• Paul L. Friedman at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.