Matthew W Brann

Biography

Brann was born in Elmira, New York on July 25, 1965. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1987 from the University of Notre Dame. He received his Juris Doctor in 1990 from the Dickinson School of Law. From 1990 to 1991, he served as a law clerk with the Court of Common Pleas in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. He became an associate at Brann, Williams, Caldwell & Sheetz in 1991, becoming a partner at that firm in 1995. He also spent years as a Republican party official in Pennsylvania. In private practice, he focused on tort, contract, commercial and real estate litigation.

Federal judicial service

On May 17, 2012, President Obama nominated Brann to be a United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, to the seat vacated by Judge Thomas I. Vanaskie who was elevated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 2010. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on his nomination on June 27, 2012, and reported it to the floor on July 19, 2012. The Senate confirmed his nomination by unanimous consent on December 21, 2012. He received his commission on December 27, 2012. Brann entered on duty as a United States District Judge on January 17, 2013. He sits at the United States Courthouse and Federal Building in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.