Miranda Du

Miranda Mai Du (born 1969) is an American lawyer who has served as a United States district judge. Du was nominated by President Barack Obama to the United States District Court for the District of Nevada in 2011, and confirmed by the Senate in 2012. As a district judge, Du has presided over a number of noteworthy cases, including a number regarding voting rights. She has been chief judge of the court since 2019. Early life and education Du was born in Cà Mau, Vietnam, in 1969. During the Vietnam War, her father had been a supporter of the U.S.-backed Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and the family left to seek asylum in Malaysia when Du was nine years old, fleeing the country by boat. Du's family spent nearly a year in Malaysian refugee camps before ultimately being granted asylum in the United States, being sponsored by a family in Winfield, Alabama. Growing up, Du and her family lived in a number of places across the United States, including Winfield, Alabama, where her father worked on a dairy farm. The family also lived at various times in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Seattle, Washington; and Oakland, California. Du participated in Upward Bound in high school. Du received a Bachelor of Arts from University of California, Davis in 1991, graduating with honors in history and economics. She earned her Juris Doctor from University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 1994. Career Upon graduating from law school, Du was admitted to the bar in Nevada in 1994 and in California in 1995. She took a job as an associate at the law firm McDonald Carano Wilson LLP in 1994 and was promoted to partner in 2002. She practiced for about one year in Las Vegas, before transferring to the firm's Reno, Nevada office. Du practiced employment law, serving as chair of her firm's employment and labor practice group.