WASHINGTON (TIP): Indian-American legal luminary Vince Girdhari Chhabria has been nominated by US President Barack Obama to a key judiciary post in California. Chhabria, nominated to be US district judge for the Northern District of California, is currently deputy city attorney for government litigation and the co-chief of appellate litigation at the San Francisco city attorney’s office, where he has worked since 2005.

Obama announced his nomination along with five other judicial posts, all of which requires Senate confirmation. “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,” Obama said, adding that they will serve the American people with integrity and an unwavering commitment to justice.

“This is a proud moment for NASABA as another deserving South Asian has been nominated to the judiciary,” president of North American South Asian Bar Association Nadeem Bezar said. Once confirmed, Chhabria would be the first South Asian Article III judge in California, and the fourth South Asian Article III judge in the nation following Amul Thapar at the US district court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Cathy Bissoon at the US district court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and Sri Srinivasan at the US court of appeals for the DC Circuit.

Chhabria began his legal career by clerking for Judge Charles R Breyer of the US district court for the Northern District of California from 1998 to 1999. He also worked as an associate at the law firm Covington & Burling LLP from 2002 to 2004. From 2001 to 2002, he clerked for Justice Stephen G Breyer on the US Supreme Court. In 2001, Chhabria worked at the law firm of Keker & Van Nest, LLP, after completing a one-year clerkship for Judge James R Browning of the United States court of appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

A member of the South Asian Bar Association of Northern California and NASABA, he was a speaker at the 2011 NASABA Convention in Los Angeles. Chhabria received his JD in 1998 from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley and his BA in 1991 from the University of California, Santa Cruz.