News and notes

Two big ones:

1.    Law360 has listed District Judge Darrin Gayles on the list of judges who may be nominated to the 11th Circuit under a Biden administration:

ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

Leslie Abrams Gardner, an Obama appointee in the Middle District of Georgia, was previously a federal prosecutor and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP associate. She clerked for Maryland U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis after earning degrees from Yale Law School and Brown University.

Darrin P. Gayles joined the Southern District of Florida on Obama's appointment. The former state judge and federal prosecutor earned degrees from the George Washington University Law School and Howard University.

Abdul K. Kallon sits in the Northern District of Alabama, where Obama appointed him before nominating him to the Eleventh Circuit in February 2016. The GOP-led Senate did not act on his nomination. The former Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP partner clerked for Alabama U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon after earning degrees from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Dartmouth College.

Leigh Martin May is another Obama pick in the Northern District of Georgia. The former Butler Wooten & Fryhofer LLP partner clerked for Georgia U.S. District Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr. after earning degrees from the University of Georgia School of Law and Georgia Tech.

Merritt E. McAlister is a University of Florida law professor focused on court design, nonprecedential decisionmaking and LGBTQ issues. The former King & Spalding LLP partner clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens and Eleventh Circuit Judge R. Lanier Anderson after earning degrees from the University of Georgia School of Law and Rice University. The 2002 college graduate is about 40, making her one the youngest people on this list.

Mark E. Walker is an Obama appointee in the Northern District of Florida. The former state judge spent time as a state public defender and in private practice with small firms. He clerked for Eleventh Circuit Judge Emmett Ripley Cox and at the Florida Supreme Court after earning both law and bachelor's degrees from the University of Florida.

2.    The Government has bought the site for the new Ft. Lauderdale courthouse (see Law.com article here): The 3.3-acre site is comprised of seven lots just south of the Tarpon River and east of Southeast Third Avenue and cost 13.6 million.