Freda L. Wolfson
Freda L. Wolfson | |
|---|---|
| Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey | |
| Assumed office May 16, 2019 | |
| Preceded by | Jose L. Linares |
| Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey | |
| Assumed office December 4, 2002 | |
| Appointed by | George W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Nicholas H. Politan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 20, 1954 Vineland, New Jersey |
| Political party | Democrat[1] |
| Spouse(s) | Douglas K. Wolfson |
| Education | Rutgers University (BA) Rutgers Law School (JD) |
Freda Linsenbaum Wolfson (born May 20, 1954) is the Chief United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
Early life and education[]
Born in Vineland, New Jersey,[2] Wolfson graduated from Douglass College in Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976 and later from Rutgers Law School in Newark with a Juris Doctor in 1979. A daughter of Holocaust survivors, she credited the experiences of her parents as leading her to pursue a career in law.[3]
Legal career[]
Following law school graduation, Wolfson worked in private practice in New Jersey from 1979 – 1986 at the firms Lowenstein, Sandler, Kohl, Fisher & Boylan and Clapp & Eisenberg.
Federal judicial career[]
Wolfson began her federal judicial career as a United States Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. Wolfson was appointed to an eight-year term in 1986 and was re-appointed again in 1994 before serving another full eight-year term before her nomination as a United States District Judge in 2002.
Wolfson was nominated to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey by President George W. Bush on August 1, 2002, to a seat vacated by Nicholas H. Politan. Wolfson was confirmed by the Senate on November 14, 2002, on a Senate vote and received her commission on December 4, 2002. She became Chief Judge on May 16, 2019, after the retirement of Jose L. Linares.
Notable cases[]
- Hornstine v. Township of Moorestown (2003)
- Edison divorce torture plot (2015)
Achievements[]
Wolfson has been honored as an American Bar Foundation Fellow and has received a New Jersey State Bar Association Young Lawyer Division's Professional Achievement Award. In 2002 she accepted the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the Alumni Association of the Rutgers School of Law, Newark. Recently, Judge Wolfson received the 2008 Women's Initiative & Leaders in Law Platinum Award from the New Jersey Women Lawyers Association.
References[]
- ^ "Where We Stand: Assessing Vacancies and Nominations in the Federal Judiciary – the Atlantic Coast". 23 August 2021.
- ^ Freda L. Wolfson, New Jersey Law Journal. Accessed February 6, 2014.
- ^ Hon. Freda L. Wolfson ’79, Commencement Speaker, Rutgers School of Law–Newark. Accessed February 6, 2014. "Freda Wolfson wanted to be part of the United States legal system for as long as she can remember. A first-generation American, daughter of Holocaust survivors, she inherited a respect for the law and our system of justice born of her family’s harrowing years in war-torn Europe."
Sources[]
- Freda L. Wolfson at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
- 1954 births
- Living people
- American women judges
- Judges of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
- People from Vineland, New Jersey
- Rutgers School of Law–Newark alumni
- Rutgers University alumni
- United States district court judges appointed by George W. Bush
- 21st-century American judges
- United States magistrate judges
- 21st-century women judges
- 21st-century American women