Alumnus, Senior United States District Judge Raner Collins Announced as the 2019 Keynote Speaker for University of Arizona Law’s Convocation Ceremony
Raner C. Collins (’75), senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, will deliver the keynote address at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law 2019 convocation ceremony, Saturday, May 11, 2019.
Judge Collins was nominated in May of 1998 by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Arizona. He was confirmed by the Senate in July of 1998 and received commission August of 1998. In September 2013 he became chief judge, the first African American to serve in that position. Judge Collins assumed senior status in March of 2019.
Prior to his nomination, he served as a judge in the Superior Court of Arizona and as a county attorney for Pima County. His professional career also includes serving as a magistrate for the Tucson City Court and as a law clerk and trial attorney for the Pima County Arizona Attorney’s Office.
Judge Collins was born in Malvern, Arkansas and received a bachelor of arts degree from Arkansas Polytechnic College (now Arkansas Tech University) in 1973 before receiving his Juris Doctor from University of Arizona Law.