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She was the
2008 Recipient of the President’s
Council on Integrity & Efficiency for the investigation and prosecution of a
preferred lender of the Small Business Administration in a national loan fraud
scheme; the 2007 Recipient of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax
Administration’s Award for the dismantlement and prosecution of a tax
preparer’s criminal organization; and the 2004 National Recipient of the United
States Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhood’s Exceptional
Juvenile Gun Crime Reduction Program Award.
Prior to joining
the United States Attorney’s Office, Judge Southern was an associate in the
Detroit office of Dykema Gossett, PLLC, where she concentrated on commercial
litigation and real estate. Before joining Dykema Gossett, she served as a
Judicial Law Clerk for the Honorable Damon J. Keith, Judge of the United States
Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and a Judicial Law Clerk for then-Chief
Judge Anna Diggs Taylor, Judge of the United States District Court for the
Eastern District of Michigan.
Judge Southern is
involved in several professional organizations including, the American Bar
Association, the National Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the
National Black Prosecutors Association, the Wolverine Bar Association and the
Women Lawyers Association of Michigan. She has also served as an officer on
several professional boards including Regional Director of the National Bar
Association’s Region VI; State Representative for the National Black
Prosecutors Association; Secretary of the Wolverine Bar Association; and
President of the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, Wayne Region.
A native of
Detroit, Judge Southern graduated high school at age 16 and graduated from the
University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Communications at
age 19. Thereafter, she received her Juris Doctor from the University of
Michigan Law School.
Judge Southern is
a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and Jack and Jill of America, Inc.,
Detroit Chapter. She is licensed to practice law in the states of New York,
New Jersey, Michigan, and the District of Columbia.
Judge Southern is
the mother of two wonderful children, Sydney and Nelson. |
