Nancy Torresen

Nancy Torresen (born 1959)

Early life and education Torresen received a Bachelor of Arts from Hope College in Holland, Michigan in 1981 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School in 1987.

Career Torresen worked as a law clerk for then-District Judge Conrad K. Cyr of the United States District Court for the District of Maine from 1987 to 1988. Between the years 1988 to 1990, Torresen worked at the law firm of Williams & Connolly, where she was based in Washington, D.C. In 1990, Torresen joined the United States Attorney's Office in Maine, where she handled civil actions involving United States federal agencies. Between 1994 and 2001, Torresen worked for the appellate section of the criminal division of the Maine Attorney General’s Office, where she was responsible for representing the state of Maine in appeals of serious violent crime convictions. From 2001 until becoming a federal judge in 2011, she worked in the United States Attorney’s Office in Bangor and focused on investigating and prosecuting various federal crimes. Torresen is the first woman to serve as a federal judge in Maine. She ended her term as Chief Judge on December 31, 2018. She assumed senior status on October 11, 2025.