James L. Cott became a United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of New York in March, 2010. Immediately prior to his appointment to the bench, Magistrate Judge Cott served as the Chief of the Civil Division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York from 2003 to 2010. A graduate of Harvard College and Northeastern University School of Law, Judge Cott has also served as a law clerk to the late Vincent L. Broderick, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, and for 13 years was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, serving as Chief of the Office’s Civil Rights Unit from 1991 to 1996 and as a Deputy Chief of the Civil Division from 1996 to 2000. From 2001 to 2003, Judge Cott was the Associate Director of Litigation at the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund. Judge Cott has taught at New York University School of Law, and is currently an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Judge Cott was a volunteer mediator in the Southern District’s mediation program and a member of the Local Rules Committee.