Lesley Brooks Wells (born October 6, 1937) is a former

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

Education

Wells earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from Chatham College (now Chatham University) in 1959 and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

Cleveland State University College of Law Cleveland State University College of Law is the law school of Cleveland State University, a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. The school traces its origins to Cleveland Law School (founded in 1897), which merged in 1946 with the John ...

in 1974. She was employed as a federal court intern through the

Women's Law Fund A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...

from 1973 to 1974.

Career

Wells maintained a private law practice for six years (1975–1978 and 1980–1983) in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, interrupted by two years (1979–1980) as director of the ABAR III Civil Rights Litigation Support Center at the Cleveland State University College of Law. She was adjunct professor at the

(1980–1981) and adjunct assistant professor, College of Urban Affairs,

Cleveland State University Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in operation since 1923. ...

(1980–1983 and 1990–1992).

Judicial service

After more than a decade as a

Cuyahoga County Cuyahoga County ( or ) is a large urban County (United States), county located in the Northeast Ohio, northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the Canada–United States border, U.S.- ...

Court of Common Pleas judge (1983–1994), President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

nominated her on November 19, 1993, for a judgeship vacated by

John Michael Manos John Michael Manos (December 8, 1922 – July 6, 2006) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Early life and education Manos was born to Maria and Michael E. Manos on December 8, ...

. She was confirmed by the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

on February 10, 1994, and received her commission the following day. Twelve years later, on February 14, 2006 she became a senior judge. She retired from active service on October 2, 2015.

Personal

Wells was married to the late Charles F. Clarke, a partner in the multinational law firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. He died in January 2014.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Lesley Brooks 1937 births Living people Chatham University alumni Cleveland–Marshall College of Law alumni Cleveland State University faculty Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Ohio state court judges People from Muskegon, Michigan United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton 20th-century American judges 20th-century American women judges 21st-century American women judges 21st-century American judges