Norma Levy Shapiro

Norma Sondra Levy Shapiro (July 27, 1928 – July 22, 2016) was a United States federal judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Shapiro received a B.A. from the University of Michigan in 1948 and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1951. She was a law clerk to the Hon. Horace Stern of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from 1951 to 1952. She was a Gowen fellow in criminal law at the University of Pennsylvania from 1954 to 1955. She was in private practice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1956 to 1978, during which time she became the first female partner at Dechert. She was an Instructor/lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, 1951–1952, 1955-1956 in 1971.

Shapiro was nominated to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by President Jimmy Carter on August 1, 1978, to a seat vacated by James H. Gorbey. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 11, 1978, and received her commission the same day. She assumed senior status on December 31, 1998. She died on July 22, 2016 at the age of 87 after a brief illness.

Sources

• Norma Levy Shapiro at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.