Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. COCHRAN. Madam President, I am pleased to support the confirmation of Ms. Debra Brown to be a U.S. district court judge for the Northern District of Mississippi.

Ms. Brown graduated from the Mississippi State University School of Architecture in 1987, where she served as a member of the school's advisory council. She worked as an architect in Washington, DC, where she participated in the renovation and restoration of municipal and historic buildings and in the construction of commercial and residential properties as well.

She received her law degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1997, where she served as associate editor and articles editor of the Mississippi Law Journal. Ms. Brown became the only lawyer in Mississippi with degrees in both architecture and law.

In 1997 she joined the Phelps Dunbar law firm in Jackson, MS, where she became a partner and remained until January 2012, when she joined, as a shareholder, the Jackson law firm of Wise Carter Child & Caraway. Both of these firms are highly respected.

During her almost 16 years in private practice, Ms. Brown has had the opportunity to be involved in numerous civil cases in a wide range of subjects. Her specialty was commercial construction and civil liability litigation. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the National Bar Association, and the Federal Bar Association, as well as a member of the Mississippi State Bar, the Magnolia Bar Association, and the Mississippi Women Lawyers Association, where she has served as president. She is a fellow of the Mississippi Bar Foundation. In 2004 Ms. Brown received the Jackson Young Lawyers Outstanding Service Award, and in 2008 she was recognized by the Mississippi Business Journal as one of Mississippi's leading businesswomen.

Her nomination was approved unanimously by the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. I am very pleased to support this nomination. Ms. Debra Brown is very well qualified for this important responsibility, and I am confident she will serve with distinction as a U.S. district court judge.

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