President Biden nominated Judge J. Michelle Childs, a 2016 graduate of Duke Law School’s Master of Judicial Studies program, to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on December 23, according to a statement released by the White House.
Judge J. Michelle Childs has served as a federal judge on the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina since 2010. Judge Childs previously served as a state court trial judge on the South Carolina Circuit Court from 2006 to 2010. Judge Childs was a Commissioner on the South Carolina Workers’ Compensation Commission from 2002 to 2006. She was the Deputy Director of the Division of Labor at the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation from 2000 to 2002. From 1992 to 2000, Judge Childs was an associate and then partner at the law firm of Nexsen Pruet, LLC in Columbia, South Carolina.
Judge Childs received her L.L.M. in Judicial Studies from Duke University School of Law in 2016. She received both her J.D. from the University of South Carolina School of Law and her M.A. in Personnel and Employment Relations from the University of South Carolina School of Business in 1991. Judge Childs received her B.A., cum laude, from the University of South Florida in 1988.
Judge Childs currently serves on the Bolch Judicial Institute’s Leadership Council, has served as faculty for the Bolch Judicial Institute’s annual Mass Tort MDL Certificate Course, and she has served as a member of the Judicature editorial board for the 2020-21 term.