R. Guy Cole Jr.

Cole was born in Birmingham, Alabama and attended Cheshire Academy in Connecticut. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tufts University in 1972 and a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1975.[1]

Cole worked as a lawyer in private practice with the firm Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease in Columbus, Ohio from 1975 until 1978. Upon joining the firm in 1975, he was just the second African-American at the firm, and in 1983, he became its first African-American partner. He joined the United States Department of Justice and worked as a trial attorney in the commercial litigation branch of the United States Department of Justice Civil Division from 1978 until 1980. He then transitioned back into private practice at Vorys Sater from 1980 until 1986. Cole became a United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Ohio from 1987 until 1993. He returned to private practice in Columbus at Vorys Sater from 1993 until becoming an appeals court judge in 1995.[1]

President Bill Clinton nominated Cole to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on June 29, 1995, to replace retiring Judge Nathaniel R. Jones. Although Republicans controlled the United States Senate at that time, Cole's nomination was considered uncontroversial. The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously recommended Cole's confirmation on October 26, 1995. The full Senate unanimously confirmed Cole in a voice vote on December 22, 1995. He received his commission on December 26, 1995. Cole has served as Chief Judge since August 15, 2014, succeeding former Chief Judge Alice M. Batchelder.[2]

• Ransey Guy Cole Jr. at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Works written by or about R. Guy Cole, Jr. at Wikisource