© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.
By Natalie Posgate
(March 16) – President Barack Obama has nominated five lawyers to serve on the U.S. District Courts in Texas, including the first Asian Pacific American.
In the Northern District of Texas, President Obama nominated Judge E. Scott Frost, James Wesley Hendrix and Judge Irma Carillo Ramirez. In the Eastern District of Texas, he nominated Karen Gren Scholer. In the Western District, Obama nominated Judge Walter David Counts, III.
If confirmed, Scholer’s nomination would mark the first time for an Asian Pacific American to serve as an Article III federal district court judge in Texas or any courts encompassed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Texas currently has a Korean American, Chief Judge Brenda Rhoades, serving in its court. Bankruptcy judges do not classify as Article III judges, which are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
Scholer is currently a principal at the Dallas law firm Carter Scholer Arnett Hamada & Mockler, where she specializes in business litigation, complex tort litigation and alternative dispute resolution. Before joining Carter Scholer in 2014, she was a partner at Jones Day. A 1982 graduate of Cornell Law School, Scholer has also served as the presiding judge for the Dallas County Civil District Judges and practiced at Andrews Kurth and Strasburger & Price.
“Everyone at our firm is very pleased and excited that President Obama has nominated our partner Karen to serve as the next United States district court judge in Plano,” said Sean Hamada, a partner at Carter Scholer.
“She is eminently qualified and was a highly regarded judge when she served as a state district court judge in Dallas,” Hamada said. “She has always been a trailblazer in the legal community, and Karen’s confirmation would be no exception as she would be the first Asian-American to serve as an Article III judge in Texas or any courts encompassed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.”
Judge Frost has served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Northern District since 2011. Before, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas for 21 years. A graduate of Texas Tech University School of Law, Judge Frost began his legal career as a clerk for U.S. District Court Judge Sam R. Cummings in the Northern District of Texas.
Judge Counts is currently a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Western District of Texas, a position he has held since 2009. Since 2006, he has also served as the State Judge Advocate for the Texas National Guard, where he holds the rank of Colonel. He has also served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, as well as an Assistant District Attorney for the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. He attended St. Mary’s University School of Law and began his legal career at Martin, Cox, Greenberg & Jones.
Hendrix has been the Chief of the Appellate Division for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas since 2012, and has been an Assistant U.S. Attorney since 2007. Before, he was in private practice as an associate at Baker Botts, where he practiced complex commercial litigation. He began his career as a clerk for U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham of the Fifth Circuit. He got his legal degree from the University of Texas School of Law.
Judge Ramirez has served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Northern District of Texas since 2002, and was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas before that. She began her legal career at the law firm now known as Locke Lord and received her J.D. from Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.
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