ACS Presents: A Conversation with Judge Carolyn N. Lerner

Carolyn N. Lerner will join UChicago ACS for a conversation covering her path to the bench and work on the Court of Federal Claims.

Carolyn N. Lerner serves as judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims. Judge Lerner was a partner at Heller, Huron, Chertkof, Lerner, Simon & Salzman, in Washington, D.C. While there, she served as Special Inspector for the D.C. Department of Corrections and as Special Master for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in a sexual harassment class action suit, and taught at the George Washington University Law School.

In 2011, Judge Lerner left private practice to serve as the head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, a position to which she was unanimously confirmed and served until 2017. After leaving that position, she taught at Georgetown Law and served as the Chief Circuit Mediator for the D.C. Circuit until President Biden appointed her to the Court of Federal Claims.

Judge Lerner graduated from the University of Michigan's Honors College with highest honors in 1986. While at Michigan, she was a Truman Scholar and a James B. Angel Scholar. In 1989, she received her JD from NYU Law, where she was a Root-Tilden Public Interest Scholar. After law school, she clerked for Chief Judge Julian A. Cook of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.