James Scott Sledge has been appointed to the position of Chief Copyright Royalty Judge. He will serve a term of six years, subject to reappointment to additional terms. Mr. Sledge recently retired as a United States bankruptcy judge in the

Northern District of Alabama The United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama (in case citations, N.D. Ala.) is a federal court in the Eleventh Circuit (except for patent claims and claims against the U.S. government under the Tucker Act, which are ap ...

, where he served since 1991. As a federal judge in Northern Alabama, Judge Sledge presided over a heavy volume of cases, while he worked with national judges’ organizations. Mr. Sledge was the chair of the Judicial Division of the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary association, voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in the United States; national in scope, it is not specific to any single jurisdiction. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated acti ...

, the largest judges’ organization in the world, and he was the first Article 1 judge to become the chair of the National Conference of Federal Trial Judges. In addition to his duties as a

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

judge, he served twelve years on the

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

State Council on the Arts, where he was chair for two years. Other arts jobs include service as a director on the regional

Southern Arts Federation South Arts, formerly the Southern Arts Federation, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is one of six not-for-profit regional arts organizations funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). South Arts create partnerships and collaborations, ...

, representing Alabama, a director of the

Alabama Symphony Orchestra The Alabama Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra based in Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The po ...

and Alabama advocacy captain for

Americans for the Arts Americans for the Arts is a nonprofit organization whose primary focus is advancing the arts in the United States with offices in Washington, D.C., and New York City, and more than 50 years of service. Americans for the Arts is dedicated to repre ...

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Judges of the United States bankruptcy courts Judges of the Copyright Royalty Board {{US-federal-judge-stub