President Barack Obama on Thursday nominated Susan Carney, Yale’s deputy general counsel, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

“At every step of her career, Susan Carney has performed with excellence and unwavering integrity,” Obama said in a statement from the White House. “I am confident she will serve the people of Connecticut with distinction on the Circuit Court bench.”

According to Yale’s Office of General Counsel, Carney joined the office in 1998. She has served as deputy general counsel, the University’s second-ranking legal officer, since 2001, and was acting general counsel from June to December of 2008. Her work at Yale — where she is also a member of the International Advisory and Research Compliance committees and a fellow of Silliman College — has focused on international affiliations and transactions, scientific research, intellectual property, technology transfer and compliance.

University Vice President and General Counsel Dorothy Robinson said in a statement that those who have worked with Carney at Yale have noted her “talent and character in addition to her fine legal mind” and are confident she will serve the nation well if confirmed.

“She has addressed an impressive range of complex legal matters for the University, building upon her very substantial previous legal career,” Robinson said of Carney.

After receiving her bachelor’s degree from Harvard College in 1973 and her law degree from Harvard Law School in 1977, Carney, a native of Waltham, Mass., clerked for Judge Levin Campbell on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. She subsequently practiced at private law firms in Washington, D.C., before serving as associate general counsel to the Peace Corps from 1996 to 1998.

Carney is a member of the Connecticut, District of Columbia and Massachusetts bars. She also serves on the National Association of College & University Attorneys’ board of directors.

If confirmed, she will succeed Barrington Parker ’65 LAW ’69, who is a Yale Corporation fellow.

THE YALE DAILY NEWS