Research Guides: Researching Judges: Biographical Information

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Biographical resources often contain information about a judge’s legal and educational background, memberships in civic and law-related organizations, personal affiliations, and interests or hobbies.

Biographical Information

The Almanac of the Federal Judiciary Provides judicial profiles of every federal judge (Volume 2) and all key bankruptcy judges and magistrate judges (Volume 1). For every federal trial judge and appellate judge in the nation, it also includes: Each judge's academic and professional background, experience on the bench, noteworthy rulings, and media coverage. It also includes commentary by lawyers, based on first-hand experiences before their local federal judges. The Almanac is also available in the Westlaw database AFJ.
The American Bench Provides biographical information on over 18,000 judges in all levels of federal, state and local courts with jurisdictional, structural and geographical facts on the courts they serve, as provided by federal sources and by the individual states. The Biographical Section, arranged alphabetically by state, lists nearly all U.S. judges and includes standard information such as: judge name, judge title, court name, office address, phone number, fax number, e-mail address. Biographies also include additional information such as: term information, current judgeships, previous judgeships, important decisions, important opinions, legal background, educational background, memberships in civic organizations, memberships in law-related organizations, personal affiliations, personal interests and personal hobbies.
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The Almanac also includes a Gender Ratio Summary, which illustrates the distribution of male and female judges throughout the United States in both federal and state judiciaries and 52 Court Outlines, which provide information on the judicial structure for each state including judge selection methods, court jurisdictions, court locations, geographic boundaries, and lists of
judges serving the courts.
The Federal Judicial Center Database of professional biographies judges who have served since 1789 on the U.S. District Courts, the U.S. Courts of Appeals, the Supreme Court, the former U.S. Circuit Courts, the Court of International Trade, and the Court of Claims.
Great American Judges: An Encyclopedia Provides biographies of the 100 most influential judges from state and federal courts and 50 shorter entries on lesser-known but influential figures. It also includes detailed charts of birth dates, education, and years of service of key figures.
Profiler -Profiles of Attorneys & Judges (Westlaw) Provides profiles of Attorneys and Judges and has more than 1,000,000 profiles of law firms, courts, judges, and lawyers from all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the District of Columbia, Canada, England, and Europe.
Westlaw Congressional Record (Westlaw) For judges appointed after July 1985, there may be statements made during the confirmation process by senators, which include biographical information that is not found in other sources. For example, to locate information on Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove go to the CR database. Using terms and connectors, search: nomination w/s “van tatenhove”
West Legal Directory: Judges (Westlaw) Provides office profiles and profiles of individual full-time judges from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
Who's Who in American Law Contains short biographies of approximately 19,000 leading attorneys and other legal professionals and features personal and career histories, specialties, education, and achievements.