The Hon. Jacqueline Scott Corley is a judge on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. She was nominated to the bench by President Joe Biden on January 3, 2022, and confirmed by the United States Senate on March 17, 2022.
Prior to her appointment, Corley was a magistrate on the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, a position to which she was named in 2011. Before that, she was a partner at Kerr & Wagstaffe, representing individuals, government entities, and institutions in trademark, copyright, patent, constitutional law, defamation, malicious prosecution, class action, contract, and probate matters (2009 to 2011).
Corley earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1988. She then completed a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1991. As a law student, she was the articles chair for the Harvard Law Review.
After graduating from law school, Corley began her legal career as a judicial law clerk to the Hon. Robert E. Keeton of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. She served in that capacity until 1992, at which time she entered into private practice at Goodwin Procter in Boston. During her tenure there, she specialized in white collar criminal defense as well as complex commercial civil litigation matters.
Then, in 1994, she relocated to San Francisco, where she was hired as an associate at Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass. She remained with the firm for four years, eventually leaving to become a permanent law clerk to the Hon. Charles Breyer of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
Her memberships have included the Northern District of California Alternative Dispute Resolution Mediation and Early Neutral Evaluation Panels.
Corley was born in Long Beach, California.