Judge Susan G. Braden

Judge Braden was appointed to the bench of the United States Court of Federal Claims on July 14, 2003, by President George W. Bush, after being confirmed by unanimous consent of the United States Senate. She was sworn into office by Senator Jeff Sessions, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight & the Courts. Her investiture was conducted on October 24, 2003 by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

On February 14, 2007, Judge Braden was elected as a Member of the American Law Institute and will be working on the Institute's Restatement and Unjust Enrichment Project. On October 22, 2004, she was inducted as a Senior Fellow of the ABA's Administrative Law and Regulatory Sections by Justice O'Connor at a ceremony held at the United States Supreme Court. Since 2005, Judge Braden has been a Member of the Editorial Board of the American Intellectual Property Law Association and a Master of the Giles D. Rich American Inn of Court.

Judge Braden received a B.A. degree (1970) and J. D. degree (1973) from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She also attended a post graduate course at the Harvard Law School in the summer of 1978.

Prior to joining the bench, Judge Braden litigated complex federal and administrative law cases in private practice in trial and appellate courts. In particular, her work in the intellectual property area received favorable notice in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, National Law Journal, Journal of the American Bar Association, and Interfaces on Trial: Intellectual Property and Interoperability In The Global Software Industry. In 1996, Judge Braden was honored by the Computer Law Association for winning multiple decisions in the Eastern District of New York, the Eastern District of Texas, the Second Circuit, and a certified question to the Supreme Court of Texas in Computer Assocs. Int’l, Inc. v. Altai Inc., a landmark case that changed the application of copyright law to computer software. In 1998, she also won a companion case brought in France before the Cour de Appel de Paris.

In private practice, Judge Braden also represented a wide variety of client interests before almost every major department and federal agency, testified before the United States Congress on a variety of matters, and was a principal advocate of the Emergency Oil and Steel Loan Guarantee Act of 1999, which established a $1 billion federal loan guarantee program to assist bankrupt and troubled steel mills and small oil companies.