Florence Y. Pan

Florence Yu Pan (born November 16, 1966) is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia from 2021 to 2022 and a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia from 2009 to 2021.

Early life and education
Pan was born in 1966 in New York City to parents who had immigrated to the United States from Taiwan in 1961. Her father is Wu-Ching Pan, and her mother is Felicia D. Pan. She grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey.

Pan attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science degree, summa cum laude. From 1988 to 1990, Pan worked for Goldman Sachs as a financial analyst. She then attended Stanford Law School, where she was an editor of the Stanford Law Review and the Stanford Law and Policy Review and was a finalist in the school's moot court competition. She graduated in 1993 with a Juris Doctor with distinction.

Career
After graduating from law school, Pan was a law clerk for Judge Michael Mukasey of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1993 to 1994 and for Judge Ralph K. Winter Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1994 to 1995.

Pan worked for the United States Department of Justice as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General from 1995 to 1996 and then as an attorney in the Appellate Section of the Criminal Division from 1996 to 1998. She next worked at the United States Department of Treasury, first as a senior advisor to the assistant secretary for financial markets in 1998 and subsequently as a senior advisor to the undersecretary for domestic finance in 1999.

From 1999 to 2009, she served as an assistant United States attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, where she also served as deputy chief of the Appellate Section from 2007 to 2009.

From 2007 to 2008, she was an adjunct professor at American University Washington College of Law and since 2012, she has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center.

Superior Court of the District of Columbia service
On March 24, 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Pan to serve as an associate judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Pan was confirmed by voice vote on May 21, 2009. She remained on the court until her confirmation to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2021.

Expired nomination to U.S. district court under Obama
On April 28, 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Pan to serve as a United States district judge for the District of Columbia, to the seat vacated by Judge Reggie Walton, who assumed senior status on December 31, 2015. On July 13, 2016, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On September 15, 2016, her nomination was favorably reported by the committee by voice vote. Her nomination expired on January 3, 2017, with the end of the 114th Congress.

Renomination to U.S. district court under Biden
On March 30, 2021, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Pan to serve as a United States district judge for the District of Columbia. On June 15, 2021, her nomination was sent to the Senate. President Biden nominated Pan to the seat vacated by Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was nominated to serve as a circuit judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. On July 14, 2021, a hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On August 5, 2021, her nomination was favorably reported by the committee by a 18–4 vote. On September 20, 2021, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture on her nomination. On September 22, 2021, the United States Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 66–27 vote. On September 23, 2021, her nomination was confirmed by a 68–30 vote. She received her judicial commission the same day. She is the first Asian American woman to serve on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Her service as a district judge was terminated on September 28, 2022, when she was elevated to the court of appeals.

Court of appeals service
On May 25, 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Pan to serve as a United States circuit judge for the District of Columbia Circuit. She was nominated to the seat being vacated by Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was elevated to the Supreme Court of the United States. A hearing on her nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 22, 2022. On July 21, 2022, her nomination was favorably reported by the committee by a 13–9 vote. On September 15, 2022, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer filed cloture on her nomination. On September 19, 2022, the Senate invoked cloture on her nomination by a 52–38 vote. On September 20, 2022, her nomination was confirmed by a 52–42 vote. She received her judicial commission on September 26, 2022. She is the first Chinese American to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Personal life
In 2004, Pan married attorney Max Stier, whom she met at Stanford Law School and who serves as the president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, at the Embassy of New Zealand in Washington, D.C. They have two sons.

Pan and her family are members of the Adas Israel Congregation, a Conservative Jewish organization and synagogue, located in Washington, D.C.