An Indian- American has been named among the 5 names nominated by US President Joe Biden to serve as US attorneys in different parts of the country. According to a WhiteHouse statement, Indian American citizen Sopen B Shah has been named for the Western District of Wisconsin, which covers Madison.
Apart from the five names, Biden chose two new nominees to serve as US marshals. This decision was taken to in an effort to curb the rise in gun crimes since 2020. The recent incidents of gun violence and mass shootings have put the Biden government under scrutiny regarding the safety of people in the United States.
According to the official White House statement, Biden’s plan to address these concerns includes adding more police officers, cracking down on illegal gun trafficking, and aiding community prevention programmes.
A detailed profile of Sopen Shah at Perkin Coie LLP’s website where she is serving as a counsel since 2019 tells that she is an award-winning brief writer and experienced oral advocate. It further informs that Shah has briefed appeals in the U.S. Supreme Court; the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Ninth, Eighth, Seventh, Fourth, Second, First, D.C., and Federal Circuits; and the Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Washington Supreme Courts.
In 2020, she won the State Bar of Wisconsin’s biennial “Best Brief” award. Sopen has argued in the Seventh and Second Circuits, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the California Court of Appeal, and the Washington State Board of Tax Appeals.
Sopen handles high-stakes litigation in trial courts, including a voting rights case in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin and a multimillion-dollar shareholder-dispute trial in Dane County Circuit Court.
Before joining the firm, she argued the state’s high-profile criminal and civil appeals as deputy solicitor general of Wisconsin. After graduating from Yale Law School, Sopen clerked for the Honorable Debra Ann Livingston, now-chief judge of the Second Circuit, and the Honorable Amul R. Thapar, then of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Before law school, Sopen was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company and a financial analyst at Bloomberg.
The White House statement elaborates on the choice of individuals and new postings. “These individuals were chosen for their devotion to enforcing the law, their professionalism, their experience and credentials, their dedication to pursuing equal justice for all, and their commitment to the independence of the Department of Justice,” the statement read.
