Judge Denise Cote was appointed United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York on August 10, 1994. Judge Cote has held positions in both the private and public sectors. For approximately eight years, beginning in 1977, she was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. She left that office as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division in 1985 to join the law firm of Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler. In 1991, she returned to the United States Attorney's Office as the first woman Chief of the Criminal Division, a post she held when Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan recommended her to President Clinton for appointment as a federal Judge.
Education: Columbia Law School, J.D. (1975); Columbia University, M.A. (1969); Saint Mary's College, B.A. (1968).