Diane Pamela Wood

Diane Pamela Wood (born July 4, 1950 in Plainfield, NJ) is a federal appeals judge who has served on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals since 1995. She is married to Dr. Robert L. Sufit, a professor of neurology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. She was previously married to Dennis J. Hutchinson, a professor at the University of Chicago School of Law. She has three children (Kathryn, David, and Jane) and three stepchildren (Ben, Jessica, and Alexandra). [https://culsnet.law.capital.edu/LawReview/Sullivan/wood.asp]

Education and legal training

Wood earned her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1971 and her law degree from the same institution in 1975. She clerked for Judge Irving Goldberg of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals from 1975 to 1976 and for Associate Justice Harry Blackmun of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1976 to 1977.

Professional career

Wood was an attorney-advisor for the Office of the Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State from 1977 to 1978. She was in private practice in Washington, D.C. from 1978 to 1980. She was an assistant professor of law at Georgetown University from 1980 to 1981 and on the faculty of the University of Chicago Law School from 1981 to 1995, serving as Associate Dean from 1989 to 1992. Wood continues to serve as an Senior Lecturer at the law school, along with fellow 7th Circuit judges Frank Easterbrook and Richard Posner [http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/?Letter=%] . In Spring 2008, she taught Civil Procedure II to first year students.

Wood was a special assistant to the assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice from 1985 to 1987. Later she served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for international, appellate, and policy in the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division from 1993 to 1995.

Federal judicial service

Wood was nominated by President Bill Clinton on March 31, 1995, to a seat vacated when William Joseph Bauer took senior status. She was confirmed by the Senate on June 30, 1995, and received her commission on June 30, 1995.

Possible nomination to Supreme Court

It is has been reported that Wood would be a front-running candidate if a new Supreme Court seat should open up under a future Democratic president. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Obama court pick could be Granholm |url=http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081007/POLITICS/810070312 |work=Washington Post |publisher= |date=2008-10-07 |accessdate= ]

See also

*List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States

References