District Judge Martha M. Pacold was appointed to the Northern District of Illinois by President Donald J. Trump in 2019. She is the first Asian-American woman to serve as a district judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Judge Pacold was born on February 3, 1979, and attended St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago. After law school, she clerked for Judge A. Raymond Randolph of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 2002 to 2003, then for Judge Jay Bybee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2003 to 2004, and then for Associate Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court from 2004 to 2005. She served as Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 2017 to 2019.
Education
- University of Chicago Law School, J.D., with honors, Order of the Coif, Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, 2002
- Indiana University, B.A., with highest distinction, Phi Beta Kappa
Career
- Deputy General Counsel, U.S. Department of the Treasury (2017–2019)
- Law Clerk, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, U.S. Supreme Court (2004–2005)
- Law Clerk, Hon. Jay Bybee, U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (2003–2004)
- Law Clerk, Hon. A. Raymond Randolph, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit (2002–2003)