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Grab the Gavel
The Grab the Gavel podcast is hosted by Zia Faruqui, Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The conversations presented aim to show students the human side of judges, their diversity and backgrounds and common struggles. We hope these insights might inspire students to consider legal careers or even grab the gavel themselves as a judge one day.
Episode 1: Guest Judge Theodore McKee
Podcast host, Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, welcomes Judge Theodore Alexander McKee, a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In this episode they discuss their childhood years and the mentors and influencers they met along the way to and during their judicial careers.
Episode 2: Guest Judge Ellen Judith Huvelle
Podcast host, Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, welcomes Judge Ellen Judith Huvelle, an inactive Senior United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. During her career she has overseen several significant cases. In a case decided in May 2001, Huvelle upheld federal regulations that restrict the sale of consumers’ names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses and phone numbers.
Episode 3: Guest Judge Laurel Beeler
Podcast host, Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, welcomes Judge Laurel Beeler, a U.S. Magistrate Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. In 2006, Beeler received the Northern District of California Judicial Conference’s Public Service Award. In 2012, she was also named one of The Recorder’s Women Leaders in Law. She additionally received BASF’s Barristers Choice Award in 2015 and the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association’s Magistrate Judge of the Year award in 2018. In this episode, learn more about Judge Beeler’s early years and the path that led her into the law.
Episode 4: Guest Judge Goodwin Liu
Podcast host, Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, welcomes Judge Goodwin Liu, an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court. Nominated by Governor Jerry Brown. Justice Liu was sworn into office in 2011 and retained by the electorate in 2014. Before joining the state’s highest court, Justice Liu was Professor of Law and Associate Dean at the UC Berkeley School of Law. His primary areas of expertise are constitutional law, education law and policy, and diversity in the legal profession.
Episode 5: Guest Judge Mariam Bazzi
Podcast host, Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia welcomes Judge Mariam Bazzi. Judge Bazzi was appointed to the Wayne County Circuit Court in 2017 after working as an assistant prosecutor in Wayne County for more than eleven years. She currently handles criminal cases and oversees a Mental Health Court docket.