Bios of the Judges at the March 7 Hearing

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has impaneled the following three of its judges to consider our appeal of the approval of the freelance writers' class action copyright infringement settlement. Oral argument is next Wednesday, March 7, in New York.

The experts with whom I've consulted agree that we have drawn a distinguished -- one might even say blue-ribbon -- panel.

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RALPH K. WINTER

He was appointed United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit on December 10, 1981 and entered on duty January 5, 1982. He received a B.A. degree from Yale College in 1957 and an LL.B. degree from Yale Law School in 1960. He served as a law clerk to Judge Caleb M. Wright, Chief Judge, U.S. District Court, Delaware, 1960-61, and to Judge Thurgood Marshall, U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, 1961-62.

Judge Winter was a full-time member of the Yale Law School Faculty from 1962 until entering judicial service. At the time of his appointment, he was the William K. Townsend Professor of Law. He was also a Consultant to the Subcommittee of Separation of Powers, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate from 1968 to 1972, a Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institute, Washington, D.C. from 1968 to 1970, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow from 1971 to 1972 and an Adjutant Scholar, American Enterprise Institute from 1972 to 1981.

He served from 1987 to 1992 as a member of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Civil Rules. He served as Chair of the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on the Rules of Evidence from 1992 to 1996. From July 1, 1997 to September 30, 2000, Judge Winter served as Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. In April 1998, he was appointed to the Executive Committee of the U.S. Judicial Conference. From October 1999 to September 2000, he served as Chair of the Executive Committee. On October 1, 2000, he took Senior Judge status.

Judge Winter has received the Connecticut Law Review Award, Honorary Doctors of Law from Brooklyn Law School and New York Law School, the Federal Bar Council's Learned Hand Award for Excellence in Federal Jurisprudence, and the Yale Law School's Association's Award of Merit.

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JOHN M. WALKER, JR.

At the time of his appointment to the Court in 1989, he was a United States District Judge in the Southern District of New York.

Judge Walker received his B.A. degree from Yale University in 1962, and his J.D. degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1966.

Judge Walker served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves from 1963 until 1967. From 1966 until 1968, he was State Counsel to the Republic of Botswana under the aegis of an Africa-Asia Public Service Fellowship. Judge Walker was a private law practitioner in New York from 1969 to 1970. From 1970 to 1975 he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division, Southern District of New York. In 1975 he returned to private law practice with the New York firm of Carter, Ledyard & Milburn, where he was initially an associate and later a partner. In 1981 Judge Walker became Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, responsible for policy in law enforcement, regulatory, and trade matters, and with oversight of the Customs Service, Secret Service, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Judge Walker remained in this position until 1985, when he became a United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York.

Judge Walker has served as Special Counsel to the U.S. Administrative Conference (1987-1992), president of the Federal Judges' Association (1993-1995), and member of the Budget Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States (1991-1999). He has been a Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School since 2000; an Adjunct Professor at NYU Law School since 1996, and Director and on the faculty of NYU Law School's Institute of Judicial Administration and Appellate Judges Seminar since 1992. Judge Walker has also been a Director of the U.S. Association of Constitutional Law since 1997. Judge Walker is married with a daughter and three stepsons.

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CHESTER J. STRAUB

At the time of his appointment in 1998, he was a partner in the New York law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher.

Judge Straub received his B.A. degree from St. Peter’s College in 1958, and his LL.B. degree from the University of Virginia Law School in 1961.

Judge Straub served as a First Lieutenant in U.S. Army Intelligence and Security from 1961 to 1963. In 1963, he began the private practice of law with Willkie Farr & Gallagher, where he became a partner in 1971, and where he remained until his appointment as a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1998. Judge Straub’s private practice was concentrated in litigation, regulatory agencies and governmental affairs. During this period he also served as a New York State Assemblyman from 1967 until 1972 and as a New York State Senator from 1973 until 1975. He also served as a mediator/neutral evaluator in the District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, and as a special master for the New York State Supreme Court in the 1st Judicial Department.

Judge Straub was Chair of Gov. Mario Cuomo’s New York Statewide Judicial Screening Committee from 1988 until 1994 and of the First Department Screening Committee from 1983 until 1994. He was a member of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s Judicial Selection Committee from 1976 until 1998.

Judge Straub serves as a member of the Lenox Hill Hospital Board of Trustees, the Cardinal’s Committee of the Laity for Catholic Charities of New York, and the Kosciusko Foundation.

Judge Straub is a native of Brooklyn.

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