Today, President Obama nominated John Michael Vazquez and Paula Xinis to serve on the United States District Courts.

“I am pleased to nominate these distinguished individuals to serve on the United States District Court bench,” said President Obama.  “I am confident they will serve the American people with integrity and a steadfast commitment to justice.”

John Michael Vazquez: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey

John Michael Vazquez has been a partner at Critchley, Kinum & Vazquez, LLC since 2008, where he practices both civil and criminal litigation. Previously, from 2006 to 2008, Vazquez worked in the Office of the Attorney General for the State of New Jersey, serving first as Special Assistant to the Attorney General and subsequently as First Assistant Attorney General. From 2001 to 2006, Vazquez was an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of New Jersey. Prior to joining the United States Attorney’s Office, Vazquez was an associate in the Law Offices of Michael Critchley and Associates from 1997 to 2001. He began his legal career by serving as a law clerk to Judge Herman D. Michels on the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division. Vazquez received his J.D. summa cum laude in 1996 from Seton Hall University School of Law and his B.A. in 1992 from Rutgers University. 

Paula Xinis: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Maryland

Paula Xinis joined the law firm of Murphy, Falcon & Murphy in Baltimore in 2011 as a senior trial attorney and became a partner in 2013. At Murphy, Falcon & Murphy, Xinis practices both civil and criminal litigation. Previously, Xinis served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Maryland from 1998 to 2011, where she also served as the Director of Training for the office from 2006 to 2011. Xinis began her legal career as a law clerk for Judge Diana Gribbon Motz of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1997 to 1998.  She received her J.D. in 1997 from Yale Law School and her B.A. with highest distinction in 1991 from the University of Virginia.