Bankruptcy Judgeship Given to Blumenstiel

(CN) - The 9th Circuit selected attorney Hannah Blumenstiel to serve as a judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.

Judges of the Ninth Circuit are statutorily tasked with selecting and appointing bankruptcy judges in the nine western states that make up the circuit. They are aided by a comprehensive merit-selection process for the initial appointment and for reappointments.

Blumenstiel, 45, fills a vacant position left by retiring Judge Thomas Carlson, who continues to serve the court as a recalled judge.

A native of Alliance, Ohio, Blumenstiel received her bachelor's degree from Ohio State University in 1992, followed by her J.D. from Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio, in 1997. She was a member of the Order of the Barristers while in law school and served on the National Moot Court Team, which was awarded the second-place brief in the 1996 National Appellate Advocacy Competition Finals. She also worked as a director of the Lawyers for Justice for the Columbus Bar Association while attending law school part-time.

From 1996 to 1998, Blummenstiel worked as an intern and an assistant attorney general for Ohio. She clerked for Judge Charles Caldwell in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Ohio from 1998 to 2001. From 2001 to 2003, Blumenstiel served as an associate with Murphy Sheneman Julian & Rodgers LLP. She has practiced with the law firm Winston & Strawn LLP since 2003, becoming a partner in 2008. While there, she worked as in-house counsel for General Electric Capital's Bankruptcy & Restructuring Center of Excellence from 2009 to 2010.

Blumenstiel has served on the Bench-Bar Liaison Committee of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California since 2009 and was the co-chair of the committee from 2011 to 2012. She also was active in the San Francisco Bar Association as co-chair of the Commercial Law & Bankruptcy Section from 2009 to 2012, and as chair of the Bankruptcy Section of the Barrister's Club from 2004 to 2005.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California received 27,637 filings in 2012. The court's nine authorized judges serve a 14-year renewable term at a salary of $160,080 per year.

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