The Hon. Nicole G. Berner

Nicole G. Berner was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in March 2024. At the time of her appointment to the Fourth Circuit, Judge Berner was General Counsel of the two-million-member Service Employees International Union and an adjunct professor of law at Vanderbilt Law School.  Prior to joining SEIU in 2006, Judge Berner litigated reproductive rights cases at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Before that, she was an associate at the Washington, DC office of Jenner & Block.

Judge Berner concurrently completed her law degree and a master's degree in public policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Judge Berner began her legal career as a judicial law clerk, first for the Honorable Betty B. Fletcher on the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, and then for the Honorable Thelton E. Henderson on the Northern District of California.