Indira Talwani (born October 6, 1960) is a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the United States district court, federal district court whose Jurisdiction (area), territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth (U.S. state), C ...

Biography

Daughter of Manik Talwani, a geophysicist, from,

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, India, Talwani received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree, ''

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'', in 1982, from

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard Colle ...

. She received a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

in 1988 from

UC Berkeley School of Law The University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law) is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of California, Berkeley. The school was commonly referred to as "Boalt Hall" for many years, although it was ...

, graduating

Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif () is an American honor society for law school graduates. The Order was founded in 1902 at the University of Illinois College of Law. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of trial lawyers, the serjeants-at-la ...

. She began her legal career as a

law clerk A law clerk, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...

to Judge Stanley Alexander Weigel of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, De ...

, from 1988 to 1989. She served as an associate at the

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, law firm of Altshuler Berzon LLP, from 1989 to 1995 and as a partner at that law firm, from 1996 to 1999. From 1999 to 2014, she served as a partner at the

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, law firm of Segal Roitman LLP, where she focused her practice on

civil litigation Civil law is a major "branch of the law", in common law legal systems such as those in England and Wales and in the United States, where it stands in contrast to criminal law. Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1 ...

at the state and federal trial court and appellate levels.

Federal judicial service

On September 24, 2013, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

nominated Talwani to serve as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, to the seat vacated by Judge Mark L. Wolf, who assumed senior status on January 1, 2013. On February 6, 2014, her nomination was reported out of committee. Cloture was filed on her nomination on May 6, 2014. On May 8, 2014, the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

invoked

cloture Cloture (, ), closure or, informally, a guillotine, is a motion or process in parliamentary procedure aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. is ...

on her nomination by a 55–41 vote. Later that day, her nomination was confirmed by a 94–0 vote. She received her judicial commission on May 12, 2014. Talwani presided over the sentencing of many parents involved in the Operation Varsity Blues college admissions scandal, including actress

Felicity Huffman Felicity Kendall Huffman (born December 9, 1962) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Lynette Scavo in the ABC comedy-drama ''Desperate Housewives'' and her role as Sabrina "Bree" Osbourne, a transgender woman, in the film ''Trans ...

. Talwani sentenced Huffman to 14 days in prison, 1 year supervised release, a $30,000 fine, and 250 hours of community service after Huffman pleaded guilty to

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

to commit

mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

, and

honest services mail fraud Honest services fraud is a crime defined in (the federal mail and wire fraud statute), added by the United States Congress in 1988. The idea of this law was to criminalize not only schemes to defraud victims of money and property, but also sc ...

for her role in the scandal. Huffman served 11 out of her 14 days.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Talwani, Indira 1960 births Living people American jurists of Indian descent California lawyers Radcliffe College alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts Massachusetts lawyers UC Berkeley School of Law alumni United States district court judges appointed by Barack Obama

Biography

Federal judicial service

See also

References

External links