President Obama Nominates Edward Milton Chen, Dolly Gee and Richard Seeborg to Serve on the District Court Bench

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Obama announced that he has nominated Edward Chen, Dolly Gee and Richard Seeborg to United States District Court judgeships.

"I am honored to nominate these three distinguished candidates to the United States District Court bench," said President Obama. "They exemplify the best in American jurisprudence and they will serve the people of California with integrity and fairness. I am grateful for their commitment to public service and look forward to their appointment to the federal bench."

Judge Edward Chen currently serves as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of California, a position he has held since 2001. Judge Chen received his undergraduate degree from the University of California – Berkeley in 1975 and his law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law in 1979. Immediately following law school, he served judicial clerkships for U.S. District Judge Charles B. Renfrew for the Northern District of California and U.S. Circuit Judge James R. Browning of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. From 1982 until 1985, he worked as an associate at the San Francisco firm of Coblentz, Cahen, McCabe & Breyer. Between 1985 and taking the bench in 2001, Judge Chen worked as a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, Northern California Chapter, where he was primarily engaged in civil litigation. Judge Chen is being nominated for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Dolly Gee is a managing partner in the Los Angeles law firm Schwartz, Steinsapir, Dohrmann & Sommers LLP, where she practices labor and employment litigation. She received her BA from UCLA in 1981 and her JD from UCLA Law School in 1984. After graduating from law school, she clerked for Judge Milton Schwartz on the District Court for the Eastern District of California. She has worked as a Regional Coordinator for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters supervising delegate elections, and has been an arbitrator for the Kaiser Permanente Independent Arbitration System since 2000. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California and a past President of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association. She is being nominated to the United States District Court for the Central District of California.

Judge Richard Seeborg is currently a United States Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of California, a position he has held since February 2001. Judge Seeborg previously worked at Morrison & Foerester, in both Palo Alto and San Francisco, where he served as an associate from 1982 to 1991 and an equity partner from 1998 to 2000. In between his two tenures at Morrison & Foerester, he served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in San Jose, California. From 1981 to 1982, Judge Seeborg was a law clerk to the Honorable John H. Pratt, U.S. District Court Judge for the District of Columbia. Judge Seeborg received a BA from Yale College in 1978 and a JD in 1981 from the Columbia University School of Law. Judge Seeborg is being nominated to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.