Amy Totenberg

Amy Mil Totenberg (born December 29, 1950) is a United States District Judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. She previously had been in private practice in Atlanta and also formerly served as a Special Master for the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

Amy Totenberg
Amy Totenberg speaks at the InGIRLS Leadership Symposium in 2015
Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
Incumbent
Assumed office March 1, 2011
Appointed by	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Jack Tarpley Camp Jr.
Personal details
Born	December 29, 1950 New York City, New York
Relatives	Roman Totenberg (father) Nina Totenberg (sister) Jill Totenberg (sister)
Education	Harvard University (A.B.) Harvard Law School (J.D.)

Early life and education

From left, Jill, Nina, and Amy Totenberg celebrate the return of their father’s Stradivarius violin in 2015.

Amy Totenberg was born in New York, the eldest daughter of Melanie Francis (Eisenberg),[1] a real estate broker, and violinist Roman Totenberg.[2] Her father was a Polish Jewish immigrant, who lost many of his family members in the Holocaust.[1] Her mother was of German Jewish and Polish Jewish descent, from an upper-class family that had lived in San Francisco and New York.[1] Her eldest sister, Nina Totenberg, is a Supreme Court correspondent for NPR.[3] Another sister, Jill Totenberg, is a businesswoman married to Brian Foreman.[4]

Totenberg earned an Artium Baccalaureus, magna cum laude, in 1974 from Harvard-Radcliffe College and a Juris Doctor in 1977 from Harvard Law School.[5][6]

Legal career

Upon graduating from Harvard-Radcliffe, Totenberg worked as a summer intern at the law firm of James M. Haviland in Charleston, West Virginia. In 1975 she was a legal assistant for Education/Instrucción in Roxbury, Massachusetts and held this position into 1977.[7] After graduating from law school, she served as a partner for The Law Project in Atlanta from 1977 until 1982 and served as a sole legal practitioner in Atlanta from 1982 until 1994. Between 1988 and 1993, Totenberg worked part-time for the city of Atlanta as a pro hac vice Municipal Court Judge.[7] From 1994 until 1998, Totenberg served as the first-ever general counsel for Atlanta's school system.[5] From 1998 until becoming a federal judge in 2011, Totenberg had served as a sole legal practitioner and arbitrator in Atlanta, working part-time as a special master and court monitor for several United States district courts.[5] She also worked from 2004 until 2007 as an adjunct professor at the Emory University School of Law.[7][6]

Federal judicial career

In February 2009, Totenberg submitted a resume and letter of interest for a United States district judgeship vacancy. After an interview by a committee appointed by the Georgia Democratic Congressional delegation, Totenberg was among the applicants whose names were submitted to the White House. On March 17, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated Totenberg to fill the judicial vacancy on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia that had been created by the decision by Judge Jack Tarpley Camp Jr. to assume senior status at the end of 2008.[5] Totenberg was unanimously approved on December 1, 2010 by the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary with a voice vote.[8][9] Senators returned Totenberg's nomination to President Obama at the end of the 111th Congress, however, and he resubmitted the nomination on January 5, 2011. The Senate confirmed Totenberg in a voice vote on February 28, 2011. She received her commission March 1, 2011.[6]

References

1. Stated on Finding Your Roots, January 27, 2021
2. Weber, Bruce (May 9, 2012). "Roman Totenberg, Violinist and Teacher, Dies at 101". The New York Times. Retrieved May 9, 2012.
3. "Nina Totenberg; NPR Biography". National Public Radio. September 25, 2007. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
4. Allen, Jenny (April 21, 2002). "WEDDINGS: VOWS; Jill Totenberg and Brian Foreman". The New York Times. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
5. "President Obama Nominates Judge Leonard Stark and Amy Totenberg to the United States District Court". The White House. USA.gov. March 17, 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-08-27. Retrieved September 17, 2010.
6. "Totenberg, Amy Mil – Federal Judicial Center". www.fjc.gov.
7. "United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Questionnaire for Judicial Nominees" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. The United States Senate. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 October 2010. Retrieved September 17, 2010.
8. Rankin, Bill (2011-02-28). "Senate approves Totenberg, Jones to federal bench in Atlanta". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Cox Media Group.
9. http://judiciary.senate.gov/nominations/112thCongress.cfm

External links

• Amy Totenberg at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Amy Totenberg at Ballotpedia