Education
He graduated from Stanford Law School with a law degree in 1991, where he finished second in his class and was a member of Stanford Law Review and Order of the Coif.
He graduated from Stanford Law School with a law degree in 1991, where he finished second in his class and was a member of Stanford Law Review and Order of the Coif.
Born in Skokie, Illinois, Feinerman earned an Bachelor of Arts in 1987 from Yale University. From 1991 until 1992, Feinerman worked as a law clerk to United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit Judge Joel Flaum. From 1993 until 1994, Feinerman worked as a law clerk for United States. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy.
From 1994 until 1996, Feinerman worked for the United States Department of Justice as Counsel to the Office of Policy Development and also on detail to the Office of the Counsel of the President in 1995.
From 1996 until 1999, Feinerman again worked as an associate for the Chicago law firm Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw. He served as a partner at the firm from 2000 until 2003.
While at Mayer Brown, Feinerman performed pro bono work for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. From 2003 until 2007, Feinerman worked in the office of the Illinois Attorney General as the state"s Solicitor General. On November 5, 2003, Feinerman argued before the United States. Supreme Court for petitioner in Illinois v.
Lidster. The Court ultimately voted 6-3 for Illinois, holding that police departments may set up roadblocks to question motorists with no individual or collective suspicion of criminal activity, but rather to collect information about a recent hit-and-run accident.
In 2009, Feinerman applied for a vacant federal judgeship in Chicago. In August 2009, Feinerman"s name was one of seven that Senator. Dick Durbin submitted to the White House.
On February 24, 2010, President Obama formally nominated Feinerman for the vacancy created by Judge Robert William Gettleman, who took senior status in May 2009.
On April 15, 2010, the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary reported Feinerman"s name to the full Senate. The full Senate voted 80-0 to confirm Feinerman on June 28, 2010, and he was given his commission the next day.
Feinerman resides in Winnetka, Illinois.