Claudia Ann Wilken (born August 17, 1949) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as a

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, De ...

. She was appointed in 1993 by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

. She served as the Northern District of California's chief judge from 2012 to 2014, when she assumed senior status.

Education and career

Born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, Wilken received a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1971 and a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley School of Law The University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley. The school was commonly referred to as "Boalt Hall" for many years, although it was never the official name. This cam ...

(Boalt Hall) in 1975. She was a Staff attorney of Federal Public Defender's Office, Northern District of California from 1975 to 1978. She was in private practice in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

from 1978 to 1984. She was an adjunct professor, University of California, Boalt Hall School of Law from 1978 to 1984. She was a professor, New College School of Law from 1980 to 1985.

Federal judicial service

Wilken was nominated by President

on October 7, 1993, to a new seat created by 104 Stat. 5089. She was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on November 20, 1993, and received her commission on November 22, 1993. She served as chief judge from August 31, 2012, until December 17, 2014, at which time she assumed senior status. Wilken was formerly a

United States magistrate judge In United States federal courts, magistrate judges are judges appointed to assist U.S. district court judges in the performance of their duties. Magistrate judges generally oversee first appearances of criminal defendants, set bail, and conduct ...

for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, from 1983 to 1993.

Notable cases

In 2014 Wilken ruled against the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

in ''

O'Bannon v. NCAA ''O'Bannon v. NCAA'', 802 F.3d 1049 (9th Cir. 2015), was an United States antitrust law, antitrust class action lawsuit filed against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The lawsuit, which former UCLA Bruins men's basketball, UC ...

'', saying that the organization violated the

Sherman Antitrust Act The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 (, ) is a United States antitrust law which prescribes the rule of free competition among those engaged in commerce and consequently prohibits unfair monopolies. It was passed by Congress and is named for S ...

by prohibiting universities from giving student-athletes a share of the revenues earned when their image and personal details were broadcast over television or through other contracts. For this, in 2014 she was named one of ESPNW's Impact 25.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilken, Claudia Ann 1949 births Living people Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California New College of California faculty Lawyers from Minneapolis Stanford University alumni United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton United States magistrate judges UC Berkeley School of Law faculty UC Berkeley School of Law alumni American women legal scholars American legal scholars 20th-century American judges 21st-century American judges 20th-century American women judges 21st-century American women judges Public defenders