Weil, Gotshal & Manges Partner Making it to Bench

Democratic U.S. Senator Charles Schumer has said in a statement that he has recommended Vernon Broderick, a partner of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, to President Barack Obama on Wednesday, for the post of a U.S. district judge in the Southern District of New York. If Broderick’s nomination is allowed by the President, and subsequently approved by the U.S. Senate, then Broderick would become the first Dominican American to sit on the federal bench in New York.

Currently, at the law firm of Weil Gotshal, Broderick handles white collar crime focusing on securities fraud, environmental law violations and RICO. Broderick, who graduated from the Harvard Law School in 1988 started his career as an associate with Weil Gotshal. Later, in 1994, he moved to the U.S. Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York.

With his work, Broderick came to head the Violent Gangs Unit for the U.S. Attorney’s office in SDNY in 1999. In 2002, he returned to Weil Gotshal. In his statement, Schumer said that he had nominated Broderick because of his “strong ties to New York” and his “demonstrated leadership skills.”

Right now, there are six vacant seats for district judges in the Southern District of New York. Other pending nominees include former general counsel of FBI, Valerie Caproni, former Morgan Lewis attorney and current Assistant U.S. Attorney Polk Failla, New York state judge Analisa Torres, New York First Appellate Division Judge Nelson Roman and Lorna Schofield of Debevoise & Pimpleton.

Broderick’s nomination is yet to be acknowledged publicly by President Obama.