Confirmed

Professionally Diverse

Nicole Berner

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

NominatedNovember 15, 2023

ConfirmedMarch 19, 2024

  • Nicole G. Berner was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on March 20, 2024.
  • Previously, she was the General Counsel to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a role she had had since 2006.
  • Prior to that, Berner was a staff attorney for Planned Parenthood Federation of America in Washington, D.C. from 2004 to 2006.
  • She was a litigation associate at Jenner & Block LLP in Washington, D.C. from 2000 to 2004 after her time as a visiting attorney at Yigal Arnon & Co. in Jerusalem, Israel, from 1999 to 2000.
  • Ms. Berner clerked for Judge Thelton E. Henderson on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California from 1997 to 1998 and for Judge Betty B. Fletcher on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1996 to 1997.
  • Upon confirmation, Berner became the third openly LGBTQ+ federal appeals court judge in our nation’s history.
  • She received her J.D., Order of the Coif, from University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, and her M.P.P. from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley in 1996. She received her B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of California, Berkeley in 1988. She is a resident of Takoma Park, Maryland.