Senate Holds Confirmation Hearing for Cohen-Recommended Judicial Nominee Sheri Lipman

[WASHINGTON, DC] –Sheryl Lipman, who Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) recommended to President Obama to fill a vacancy on the District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, today appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is tasked with reviewing nominations to the federal bench. Ms. Lipman currently serves as Chief of Staff to University of Memphis Interim President R. Brad Martin and formerly served as University Counsel. Congressman Cohen, who recommended her after convening a diverse and bipartisan screening committee to conduct interviews of nine potential candidates for the position, submitted a statement in support of Ms. Lipman’s nomination to the Senate committee.

“Sheri Lipman has proven herself a stellar attorney and I am confident that she will be a superb judge,” said Congressman Cohen. “Her breadth of experience, strong work ethic, and unimpeachable integrity easily made her the overwhelming first choice of the screening committee of local attorneys. I commend President Obama for taking my recommendation into consideration and nominating such a skilled Memphis attorney to the federal bench, and I am glad that the Senate Judiciary Committee is moving forward with her nomination. When confirmed, she will serve the Western District of Tennessee with distinction and the people of Memphis well.”

Before recommending Ms. Lipman to the President, Congressman Cohen interviewed all nine candidates for this judicial vacancy with his bipartisan committee of thirteen local attorneys. This screening panel was not only unique in its distinguished composition, but in its diversity as well. It included attorneys from the Memphis Bar Association, the Women’s Bar Association, the Federal Public Defender’s office in Memphis, and other prominent local attorneys. Sheri Lipman was the screening committee’s clear choice, receiving nine first place votes, and the Congressman promptly recommended her to President Obama to fill this vacancy.

Sheri Lipman has been an attorney since 1987 and has a wealth of legal experience. After attending the University of Michigan for her undergraduate degree, Ms. Lipman received her J.D. from the New York University School of Law. She first clerked for the Honorable Julia S. Gibbons, who now sits on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, when Judge Gibbons was a District Court Judge. Ms. Lipman was an attorney at the Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs law office in Memphis for more than 4 years before practicing at the venerable Burch, Porter and Johnson law firm from 1997 to 1999. She also served as Vice President of Comprehensive Services at the Memphis Race Relations & Diversity Institute from 1996 to 1997. For nearly 14 years, she has worked at the University of Memphis—first as Senior Attorney, then serving as University Counsel for more than a decade before being named Chief of Staff to Interim President R. Brad Martin.