Biography
Paul A. Engelmayer was nominated to the Southern District bench on February 2, 2011, confirmed by the Senate on July 26, 2011, and took the bench on September 26, 2011. He graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1983 with a degree in Government and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1987. In between college and law school, he worked as a staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal.
From 1987 to 1988, Judge Engelmayer clerked for the Honorable Patricia M. Wald, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. From 1988 to 1989, he clerked for the Honorable Thurgood Marshall, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Between 1989 and 1994, Judge Engelmayer served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, largely assigned to the Official Corruption Unit, where he tried numerous white-collar cases and handled numerous appeals; in 1994, he served as Deputy Chief Appellate Attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office.
As Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States from 1994 to 1996, Judge Engelmayer briefed and argued cases before the United States Supreme Court and advised the Solicitor General regarding appellate litigation. In 1996, he returned to the United States Attorney's Office as Chief of the Major Crimes Unit, serving in that role until January 2000. In that capacity, he supervised a unit of two dozen prosecutors responsible for a wide array of white-collar matters while continuing to try cases. Judge Engelmayer received the U.S. Attorney's Director's Award for Superior Performance in 1998 in connection with his prosecution of the case of United States v. William F. Duker.
In January 2000, Judge Engelmayer joined the law firm of Wilmer Cutler & Pickering (later Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr) as a partner in the firm's New York Office. In 2005, he was named Partner-in-Charge of that office, a role he held until leaving the firm for the bench. At WilmerHale, he specialized in complex civil and securities litigation, criminal defense, appellate litigation and securities enforcement; he also handled a substantial pro bono docket. He has also taught or lectured at various professional conferences and at law schools.
Judge Engelmayer is a lifelong New Yorker and is married to Emily Mandelstam. They have two children.