Fresno attorney nominated for U.S. District Court seat, White House says
A Fresno-based attorney has been nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, the White House said Wednesday.
Dirk B. Paloutzian has practiced law for 25 years, according to his resume. He specializes in commercial and agricultural business litigation, according to his biography from the Fig Garden-area office of Baker, Manock & Jensen, where he’s worked since 2002.
Prior to his current job, he was a deputy district attorney for five years at the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office, where he prosecuted elder abuse, sexual assault, homicide, gang violence and other crimes, his resume says.
He was the first prosecutor in Fresno County to get a conviction for elder abuse following a trial, the resume says.
Paloutzian earned his bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and his law degree from UC Davis School of Law.
The job will require approval by the U.S. Senate before Paloutzian can take his seat as a judge.
Presiding Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill sent a letter in October to the White House and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, warning about impending retirements on the court, which had the highest caseload in the nation for more than two decades.
The court, which represents a district of about 8.5 million people, needed to fill two of the court’s impending vacancies or risk the due process of defendants, O’Neill wrote.
The district judge job in 2019 included a yearly salary of $210,900 and lifetime tenure.
The Eastern District of California stretches from the Oregon border in the north to the Tehachapi Mountains in the south, and is the largest of the state’s four federal judicial districts. The two main courthouses are in Sacramento and Fresno, while magistrate judges sit in Yosemite, Redding and Bakersfield.
