Williams & Connolly Partner to Be Nominated to Fourth Circuit

This afternoon, the White House issued a press release announcing President Trump’s intent to nominate Allison Jones Rushing to replace Judge Allyson K. Duncan of North Carolina. Earlier this year, Judge Duncan announced that she would take senior status upon the confirmation of her successor. The press release states:

A native North Carolinian, Allison Rushing is a partner with Williams and Connolly LLP.  There, her practice focuses on appellate matters, constitutional issues, and regulatory challenges.  Ms. Rushing is widely viewed as one of the best young appellate lawyers in the country: Legal 500 has praised Ms. Rushing for her “excellent writing advocacy skills,” The National Law Journal has recognized her stellar oral advocacy in the Federal courts of appeals, and Super Lawyers has recognized her as one of its “Rising Stars.”  Ms. Rushing has argued before Federal courts of appeals and state appellate courts, in addition to briefing cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.  Upon graduation from law school, Ms. Rushing clerked for then-Judge Neil Gorsuch on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, then-Chief Judge David Sentelle on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court of the United States.  Ms. Rushing earned her B.A., summa cum laude, from Wake Forest University, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and her J.D., magna cum laude, from Duke University School of Law, where she served as executive editor of the Duke Law Journal.

If the Senate confirms Rushing, a 2007 law school graduate, she would further add to a youth movement on the Fourth Circuit. Judge Julius “Jay” Richardson, born in 1976, took his seat one week ago.