The Senate on Wednesday confirmed prominent commercial litigator Charles Eskridge to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas with a 61-31 vote.
President Donald Trump nominated Eskridge to serve on the federal bench in May of this year.
Eskridge joined Quinn Emanuel in 2015, when the firm opened its Houston office. Before that, he had spent nearly 20 years at Susman Godfrey. He clerked for justices both at the U.S. Supreme Court and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
A graduate of Pepperdine School of Law, Eskridge has handled trial and appellate work for both plaintiffs and defendants across the country. Some of the most significant matters he has handled include representing the Europe entity of Lehman Brothers International in its complex financial negotiations following the 2008 economic crisis.
One negotiation resulted in recovering more than $1 billion for Lehman Brothers.
He also represented one of the security companies that provided gate check screening for United Airlines during the 9/11 attacks in various matters, including resolving claims with the victims and their families.
“As a commercial litigation lawyer, it was a very unusual type of litigation,” Eskridge told The Texas Lawbook in a 2015 interview. “It was very sensitive and very emotional at times, and it kept me involved in thinking about the issues of 9/11 for a long time. It was a real privilege… to [bring] closure on issues of that magnitude.”
More recently, Eskridge obtained a $622 million international arbitration award for an improper early termination of a long-term deepwater drilling contract. Confirmation of that award in the Southern District of Texas is pending.
During the Obama administration, Eskridge served on the Federal Judicial Evaluation Committee, the panel that advises U.S. senators regarding the qualifications of federal judicial candidates nominated by presidents for open positions.