Obama nominates Godfrey & Kahn’s Peterson for Western District seat

Listen to this article

President Barack Obama nominated a Madison attorney Thursday to fill a vacant federal judge position in the Western District of Wisconsin.

James Peterson, a shareholder at Godfrey & Kahn SC, was nominated to fill the seat vacated by John Shabaz, who assumed senior status in 2009 and died last year at age 81.

Peterson heads Godfrey & Kahn’s intellectual property litigation working group and is a member of the firm’s litigation and intellectual property practice group.

Peterson was one of three candidates nominated by Wisconsin senators Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin in August. The senators also nominated Rock County Circuit Judge Michael Fitzpatrick and Western District U.S. Attorney John Vaudreuil.

Peterson received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1998 and served as a clerk for former appellate judge David Deininger for a year. Prior to obtaining his law degree, Peterson was a faculty member at the University of Notre Dame.

The U.S. Senate will need to confirm Obama’s nomination.

— Follow Eric on Twitter