WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Obama nominated Judge Brian J. Davis and John E. Dowdell to serve on the United States District Court.

“I am honored to put forward these highly qualified candidates for the federal bench,” President Obama said.  “They will be distinguished public servants and valuable additions to the United States District Court.”

Judge Brian J. Davis: Nominee for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida
Judge Brian J. Davis currently serves as a Circuit Judge for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida, a position he has held since 1994.  He served as Chief Assistant State Attorney in the State Attorney’s Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit from 1991 to 1994, having previously worked in the same office as an Assistant State Attorney from 1982 to 1988.  Judge Davis also worked at civil litigation law firms on two occasions during his legal career; he worked at Brown, Terrell, Hogan, Ellis, McClamma & Yegelwel from 1988 to 1991 and at Mahoney, Hadlow & Adams PA from 1980 to 1982.  Judge Davis received his J.D. in 1980 from the University of Florida College of Law and his B.A. in 1974 from Princeton University.

John E. Dowdell:  Nominee for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma
John E. Dowdell has been a partner at the law firm of Norman Wohlgemuth Chandler & Dowdell, P.C., in Tulsa, Oklahoma, since 1987, where he handles a wide variety of complex civil litigation and criminal matters before both district and appellate courts.  Since 1999, he has also served on a pro bono basis as an Adjunct Settlement Judge in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma.  Prior to joining his law firm as an associate in 1983, Dowdell served as a law clerk for the Honorable William J. Holloway Jr. of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit from 1981 to 1983.  Dowdell received his J.D. in 1981 from the University of Tulsa School of Law and his B.A. in 1978 from Wake Forest University.