Honorable Loretta A. Preska '70, H '95

B.A. Chemistry
Chief Judge
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
New York, NY

Loretta A. Preska has served as Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York since June of 2009. She earned her JD from Fordham University School of Law in 1973 and her LlM in Trade Regulation from New York University School of Law in 1978.

During law school, Judge Preska clerked for Albany County District Attorney Arnold Proskin. She became an associate at Cahill Gordon & Reindel in 1973 and a partner at Hertzog Calamari & Gleason in 1983. In her private practice, Judge Preska served as Special Trial Counsel to the Departmental Disciplinary Committee of the New York Appellate Division, First Department, and represented clients at the trial and appellate levels in commercial civil litigation, including antitrust, defamation, securities, and contract and federal regulatory matters.

On the recommendation of Senator Alfonse M. D’Amato, Judge Preska was appointed to the bench by President George H. W. Bush in 1992. She was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit by President George W. Bush in 2008. From 1998 to 2004, Judge Preska served as a member of the Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction of the Judicial Conference of the United States and now serves on the Board of the Federal Judicial Center. She has served on the New York Regional Panel to choose White House Fellows and currently serves on the Advisory Board of the New York Chapter of the Federalist Society.

Judge Preska’s many honors include the Fordham Law Alumni Association’s Medal of Achievement in 1998; the New York County Lawyers Association Federal Courts Committee’s Edward J. Weinfeld Award for Excellence in the Administration of Justice in 2001; the Catholic Lawyers Guild Charles Carroll Award in 2004; the New York State Bar Association Commercial and Federal Litigation Section’s Stanley H. Fuld Award in 2009; and the New York State Women’s Bar Association President’s Special Award in 2011. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Saint Rose in 1995.