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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, today, the Senate will vote to confirm Edward Kiel to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Born in Daegu, South Korea, Judge Kiel received both his B.S.E.E. and B.A. from Rutgers University, and his J.D. from Notre Dame Law School.

After clerking for Judge Michael R. Imbriani of the Superior Court of New Jersey in Somerset County, Judge Kiel worked at Jamieson, Moore, Peskin & Spicer as an associate, where he worked on a variety of matters, including insurance regulatory and commercial litigation cases.

He then went on to work at Beattie Padovano as an associate, where he handled various civil matters for a range of clients, from individuals to large corporations. Following his tenure at Beattie Padovano, Judge Kiel became a partner at Cole, Schotz, Meisel, Forman & Leonard, where he litigated matters before the Federal and State courts of New Jersey.

In 2019, Judge Kiel was appointed to be U.S. magistrate judge on the same district to which he is nominated. Since his appointment to the bench, he has issued more than 1,000 orders, reports and recommendations, opinions, and memorandum orders--only two of which have been reversed by a reviewing district court judge.

The American Bar Association unanimously rated Judge Kiel ``well qualified'' to serve on the district court, and he has the strong support of Senators Menendez and Booker.

Judge Kiel's two decades of litigation experience combined with his distinguished career on the bench prove he is ready to handle the demands of the District of New Jersey from day one.

I thank my colleagues for supporting his nomination.

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