James C. Francis IV has been a United States Magistrate Judge in the Southern District of New York since October 1985 and served as Chief Magistrate Judge from 1998 to 2000. He graduated summa cum laude from Yale College in 1974, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received his juris doctor degree from the Yale Law School in 1978 and a masters degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in the same year. Following graduation from law school, Judge Francis clerked for the Honorable Robert L. Carter in the Southern District of New York. He then joined the Civil Appeals and Law Reform Unit of the Legal Aid Society where he conducted impact litigation in the areas of housing and education and served as director of the Disability Rights Unit. He continued in this capacity until his appointment to the bench. Judge Francis is an Adjunct Professor at the Fordham University School of Law where he teaches Constitutional Torts. He has served on the Legal Assistance, Federal Courts, Disability Rights, and Professional Responsibility Committees of the New York City Bar Association and the Federal Judiciary Committee of the New York State Bar Association. Judge Francis lectures frequently on electronic discovery, employment litigation, constitutional torts, legal ethics, and pretrial practice. His publications include two chapters in Moore’s Federal Practice.