Kimba Wood

Kimba Maureen Wood (born January 21, 1944) is an American judge who is a senior district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Wood received her undergraduate education at Connecticut College before gaining an MSc at the London School of Economics. In 1969, she earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, from which she took senior status in 2009. In 1993, President Bill Clinton unsuccessfully nominated Wood to be United States Attorney General.

Wood has presided over many high-profile cases involving such figures as "Junk Bond King" Michael Milken, Republican majority leader of the New York State Senate Dean Skelos, and Donald Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen.

Early life and education

Wood was born in Port Townsend, Washington. Wood was named for the small town of Kimba, South Australia, which her mother saw in an atlas. Her father was a career officer and speechwriter in the United States Army. Wood lived in Europe during her youth, where her father was stationed in several places, and she received early education at the Sorbonne.

In 1965, Wood graduated from Connecticut College with a bachelor's degree in government, cum laude. In 1966, she received a Master of Science in political theory from the London School of Economics. While in London, she spent five days training as a Playboy bunny, but quit before beginning to work at a club. She then earned a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1969, where there were fewer than twenty women in her class.