Phyllis Jean Hamilton

Phyllis Jean Hamilton (born June 12, 1952) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Education and career

Hamilton was born in Jacksonville, Illinois. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University in 1974 and a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1976. She was a deputy public defender in the California Office of the Public Defender from 1976 to 1980, She became an administrative judge for the San Francisco Regional Office of the United States Merit Systems Protection Board from 1980 to 1985, and was a court commissioner for the Municipal Court, Oakland-Piedmont-Emeryville Judicial District from 1985 to 1991. From 1991 to 2000, Hamilton was a United States magistrate judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. She was the first African-American chief judge in the court's history.