Paul J. Watford

Paul Watford
Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
In office
May 22, 2012  May 31, 2023
Appointed byBarack Obama
Preceded byPamela Ann Rymer
Succeeded byAna de Alba
Personal details
Born
Paul Jeffrey Watford

(1967-08-25) August 25, 1967
Garden Grove, California, U.S.
EducationUniversity of California, Berkeley (BA)
University of California, Los Angeles (JD)

Paul Jeffrey Watford (born August 25, 1967) is an American lawyer who served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 2012 to 2023. In 2016, The New York Times identified Watford as a potential Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia. Watford resigned his judgeship in 2023 and became a partner at the law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He is currently a partner in the Business Litigation practice group of King & Spalding in Los Angeles.