Sean J. McLaughlin (born January 4, 1955) is a former
United States district judge of the
.
Education and career
Born in
Erie
Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...
,
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, McLaughlin received an
Artium Baccalaureus
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
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789 as Georgetown College, the university has grown to comprise eleven undergraduate and graduate ...
in 1977, followed by 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 l ...
from the
Georgetown University Law Center
The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...
in 1980. He served as a
law clerk
A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...
for three different judges on the
—
William W. Knox, in 1980;
Gerald Joseph Weber, from 1980 to 1981; and
Maurice Blanchard Cohill, in 1981. McLaughlin then entered private practice at the law firm Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett, P.C. until 1994.
Federal judicial service
McLaughlin was nominated by 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 again ...
on August 12, 1994, to a seat on the same court where he had clerked, which had been vacated by
Glenn E. Mencer. McLaughlin was confirmed by the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and po ...
on October 7, 1994, received his commission on October 11, 1994 and sworn in on October 13, 1994.
Among the more notable cases presided over by McLaughlin was the criminal conviction of the conspirators in the murder of
Brian Douglas Wells, a highly publicized case involving a bizarre and complex bank robbery scheme. He became Chief Judge on April 25, 2013, upon the sudden death of former Chief Judge
Gary L. Lancaster
Gary L. Lancaster (August 14, 1949 – April 24, 2013) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Early years
Born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, Lancaster received a Bache ...
.
McLaughlin resigned in 2013 after being hired as General Counsel and Vice President of the
Erie Insurance Group, with his final day on the bench being August 16, 2013. In January 2019, he returned to a different position at Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett.
References
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:McLaughlin, Sean J.
1955 births
Living people
Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania
United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton
People from Erie, Pennsylvania
Georgetown University alumni
20th-century American judges
21st-century American judges