Neil Wake

United States District Judge

United States District Court for the District of Arizona

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Neil V. Wake was appointed as a United States District Judge for the District of Arizona in 2004 and has been a Senior Judge since July 2016.  He received his B.A. degree, with high distinction, from Arizona State University in 1971 and his J.D. degree, cum laude, from Harvard University in 1974, where he was a member of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.  He is admitted to practice in Arizona, Colorado, and the Navajo Nation.  From 1974 to 2004 he engaged in a litigation practice in Phoenix, primarily in the fields of business, administrative, constitutional, election, Indian law, and appellate litigation.  He practiced in several law firms, including his own firm.  He was listed in The Best Lawyers in America for business litigation and appellate litigation from 1989 until leaving law practice and has been a Fellow of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers since 1993.  He served on the State Bar of Arizona's Civil Practice and Procedure Committee for nearly 20 years, authored chapters on administrative law in the Arizona Appellate Handbook since 1980, and was Chair of the State Bar Appellate Practice Section in 2003-2004.  He was the Chair of the Committee on Local Rules of Practice, U.S. District Court, 2006 to 2017.