Chief Judge M. Hannah Lauck was appointed to the Eastern District of Virginia by President Barack Obama in 2014, becoming Chief Judge effective December 4, 2025.
A native of Falls Church, Virginia, Judge Lauck clerked for the Honorable James R. Spencer of this court after law school, then entered private practice in Washington, D.C. She served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia from 1994 to 2004. In 2005, she was appointed as a United States Magistrate Judge in the Richmond Division — the first woman federal judge appointed in the Richmond Division. She was nominated to the district court on December 19, 2013, and confirmed 90-0 by the Senate on June 10, 2014. She has served on the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules by appointment of Chief Justice John Roberts.
Education
- Yale Law School, J.D., 1991
- Wellesley College, B.A. (Political Science, Phi Beta Kappa), 1986
Career
- Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, 2025–present
- U.S. District Judge, Eastern District of Virginia, 2014–2025
- U.S. Magistrate Judge, Eastern District of Virginia (Richmond Division), 2005–2014
- Assistant U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of Virginia, 1994–2004
- Private practice, Anderson Kill Olick & Oshinsky (Washington, D.C.), after clerkship
- Law clerk, Hon. James R. Spencer, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia