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Judge J. Michelle Childs MJS ’16 of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina will address graduating Duke Law students as the distinguished speaker at their Convocation on May 7.

Childs has been nominated by President Joe Biden to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She was one of three judges under consideration by Biden to succeed Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Childs earned a master’s of judicial studies from Duke Law in 2016 and sits on the Leadership Council of the Law School’s Bolch Judicial Institute.

“As much of the world now knows, Michelle Childs is a brilliant and accomplished jurist who has had an exceptionally dynamic legal career,” said Kerry Abrams, James B. Duke and Benjamin N. Duke Dean of the School of Law.

“She has been a path-breaking lawyer, a top state labor official, a distinguished member of the South Carolina bench, and a well-respected federal trial judge now nominated to the D.C. Circuit. I’m thrilled the class of 2022 will have the opportunity to hear from this remarkable Duke Law alumna at this important milestone in their own legal careers.”

A native of Detroit, Childs grew up in South Carolina. She attended the University of South Florida, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Management and was selected as the outstanding graduate in her class. Three years later, she earned a JD and a Master’s in Personnel and Employment Relations from the University of South Carolina.

After graduation, Childs joined Nexsen Pruet as an associate in its Columbia, S.C., office. At the firm, she represented clients in cases involving employment and labor law and general litigation. Childs was the firm's first Black woman partner and the first Black woman partner in a major firm in South Carolina.  

In 2000, South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges appointed Childs deputy director of the state Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation. Two years later, the governor appointed her to the South Carolina Worker’s Compensation Commission.

Childs’ judicial career began in 2006, when the South Carolina legislature elected her to serve as an at-large circuit court judge, which included responsibilities as the chief administrative judge for general sessions, the state’s criminal court, and a business court that was piloted in the Fifth Judicial Circuit of Richland and Kershaw Counties. She also served as needed as an acting state supreme court justice.

In late 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Childs to the U.S. District Court. She was presented at her Senate confirmation hearing by Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) and confirmed by voice vote in August 2010. 

In December, President Biden nominated Childs to the D.C. Circuit to replace Judge David Tatel, who is taking senior status. A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on her nomination scheduled for Feb. 1 was postponed while she was under consideration for the Supreme Court.

Childs is the president-elect of the Federal Judges Association. She is the former chair of the American Bar Association’s Judicial Division and the former secretary of the ABA’s Labor and Employment Law Section, and has served on its Litigation Section’s Committee on the American Judicial System. Judge Childs is also a member of the American Law Institute, having served as an advisor to the Restatement (Third) of Employment Law.

Duke Law’s Convocation ceremony is scheduled for May 7 at 5:30 p.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Guests of graduating students are invited to attend and the event will be recorded. For more information, please visit http://law.duke.edu/graduation.

Andrew Park is associate dean for communications, marketing, and events at Duke Law School. Reach him at andrew.park@law.duke.edu.