President Barack Obama has named yet another Indian-American attorney to be a federal judge. Manish Shah, an attorney and federal prosecutor, will take over as a judge of the US District Court in Northern Illinois.
Earlier this year, Obama had appointed two noted Indian-American attorneys to key judicial positions; Srikant “Sri” Srinivasan as a judge of the Court of Appeals in Washington and Vince Girdhari Chhabria as a judge of the US District Court in Northern California.
The 40-year-old Shah was born in New York after his parents had emigrated from India. Shah graduated from Stanford University and the University of Chicago law School.
Obama said: “These men and women have had distinguished legal careers and I am honoured to ask them to continue their work as judges on the federal bench.”
Shah has been an Assistant United States Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois since 2001. He currently serves as Chief of the Criminal Division, having previously served as Chief of Criminal Appeals from 2011 to 2012.
Shah was also Deputy Chief of the Financial Crimes & Special Prosecutions Section from 2008 to 2011 and Deputy Chief of the General Crimes Section from 2007 to 2008.
Prior to joining the US Attorney’s Office, Shah clerked for Judge James B. Zagel of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 1999 to 2001 and worked as an associate at Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe in San Francisco from 1998 to 1999.