During October and November, CBA members Hon. Sarah A. L. Merriam and Hon. Omar A. Williams as well as Hon. Sarala Vidya Nagala, a non-member ex-officio of the CBA's Committee on Human Trafficking, were confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in as United States District Judges for the District of Connecticut.
Hon. Sarah A. L. Merriam
On October 6, the United States Senate confirmed the Honorable Sarah A. L. Merriam as a United States District Judge for the District of Connecticut. President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. signed her commission on October 8, and she was sworn in by the Honorable Stefan R. Underhill, Chief United States District Judge, on October 12. She fills the vacancy created by the Honorable Janet C. Hall, who assumed senior status in January 2021.
Judge Merriam is a 1993 graduate of Georgetown University and a 2000 graduate of Yale Law School. In 2018, she earned her L.L.M. in judicial studies from Duke Law School. Prior to becoming a district judge, she was appointed as a magistrate judge for the District of Connecticut on April 3, 2015, and served over six years in that position, handling both civil and criminal matters. Judge Merriam is the first magistrate judge to be seated as a district judge in the District of Connecticut’s history. Prior to serving as a magistrate judge, she served as an assistant federal defender from 2007-2015; as an associate at the law firm of Cowdery, Ecker & Murphy in Hartford; as a law clerk to Judge Thomas Meskill of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals; and as a law clerk to Judge Alvin W. Thompson of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut.
Hon. Sarala Vidya Nagala
On October 27, the United States Senate confirmed Judge Sarala Vidya Nagala as a United States District Judge for the District of Connecticut. She received her commission from President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on November 3, and was sworn in that same day by the Honorable Stefan R. Underhill, Chief U.S. District Judge. She fills the vacancy created by Judge Vanessa L. Bryant, who assumed senior status in January 2021.
Judge Nagala is a 2005 graduate of Stanford University and a 2008 graduate of the University of California Berkeley School of Law. She began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Susan P. Graber of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Following her clerkship, Judge Nagala was an associate attorney with the law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson, LLP in San Francisco before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut in 2012. During her tenure with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she prosecuted cases dealing with human trafficking, child exploitation, hate crimes, identity theft, and fraud; served as deputy chief of the Major Crimes Division since 2016; and served as both the human trafficking coordinator and hate crimes coordinator. Judge Nagala was a visiting lecturer in law at Yale Law School from 2017 to 2019, where she taught a prosecution externship course.
Hon. Omar A. Williams
On October 28, the United States Senate confirmed Superior Court Judge Omar A. Williams as a United States District Judge for the District of Connecticut. He received his commission from President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. on November 12, and was sworn in by the Honorable Michael P. Shea, U.S. District Judge, on November 22. He fills the vacancy created by Judge Alvin W. Thompson, who assumed senior status in August 2018.
Judge Williams is a 1998 graduate of the University of Connecticut and a 2002 graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law. He began his legal career as an assistant public defender for the State of Connecticut Division of Public Defender Services where he served for over 11 years. In 2014, he was nominated by Governor Dannel P. Malloy to serve as a superior court judge and was unanimously confirmed by the Connecticut legislature in January 2015. In this role, Judge Williams presided over housing and criminal matters in the New London judicial district. In 2017, while sitting in the Hartford G.A. court, Judge Williams was appointed by the chief judge administrator as the presiding judge for criminal matters.