---
title: "Candace Rae Jackson-Akiwumi | KnowJudges"
canonical: "https://knowjudges.com/kyj/judge/candace-rae-jackson-akiwumi"
page_type: "judge_profile"
updated: "2026-10-07"
---

# Candace Rae Jackson-Akiwumi

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · U.S. Circuit Judge

## Profile

- Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- State: National federal courts
- Role: U.S. Circuit Judge
- Service status: active
- Last verified: 2026-07-25

## Summary

Official statewide and applicable court procedural guidance applies to this judge.

## Biography

### Professional career

- American jurist and attorney who has held the role of a United States Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit since July 1, 2021
- Partner at Zuckerman Spaeder LLP in Washington, D.C. (2020–2021)
- Staff attorney at the Federal Public Defender Program for the Northern District of Illinois (2010–2020)
- Litigation associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in Chicago (2007–2010)
- Law clerk, Hon. Roger L. Gregory, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 2006-2007
- Law clerk to Judge David H. Coar (N.D. Ill.) (2005–2006) and Judge Roger L. Gregory (4th Cir.) (2006–2007)
- Law clerk, Hon. David H. Coar, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, 2005-2006
- The daughter of Raymond Alvin Jackson, a U.S. District Judge, and Gwendolyn Jackson, a former Norfolk General District Court Judge

### Education

- Jackson-Akiwumi earned her B.A. with honors from Princeton University in 2000 and her J.D. from Yale Law School in 2005, where she held the role of senior editor of the Yale Law Journal.

### Additional information

- The Senate confirmed her 53–40 on June 24, 2021, and she received her judicial commission on July 1, 2021.
- Private practice, Washington, D.C., 2020-2021
- President Joe Biden nominated her on April 19, 2021, to replace Judge Joel Flaum, who had assumed senior status in 2020.
- Private practice, Chicago, Illinois, 2007-2010
- Born 1979 in Norfolk, Virginia.
- Date of birth: 1979
- representing indigent defendants in federal criminal cases.
- focusing on complex civil litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and investigations.
- Only the second Black woman to serve on the Seventh Circuit.
- Her career spans public service, private practice, and now federal appellate adjudication.
- She is recognized for her commitment to fair representation, complex case analysis, and advancing diversity in the federal judiciary.

## Before you appear

- Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed.
- Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance.
- Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding.

## Courtroom Rules

### appellate oral argument

Scope: courtwide

In federal courts of appeals, oral argument is allowed unless a three-judge panel unanimously finds one of Rule 34's specified grounds for dispensing with it; the clerk provides the date, time, place, and time allocation.

Evidence excerpt: Oral argument must be allowed in every case unless a panel of three judges who have examined the briefs and record unanimously agrees that oral argument is unnecessary

[Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 34, Oral Argument](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-appellate-procedure)
Source checked: 2026-07-26


## Sources

- [Official profile](https://www.fjc.gov/node/10300101)
- [Official roster](https://www.fjc.gov/node/10300101)
- [Federal Judicial Center biography](https://www.fjc.gov/node/10300101)
- [Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 34, Oral Argument](https://www.uscourts.gov/forms-rules/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-appellate-procedure)
- [Judge Candace Rae Jackson-Akiwumi](https://www.fjc.gov/node/10300101)
- [Wikidata: Candace Rae Jackson-Akiwumi](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q106287238)

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