Leslie H. Southwick (born February 10, 1950) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and a former judge of the Mississippi Court of Appeals. Early life and education Born in Edinburg, Texas, Southwick graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude from Rice University in 1972 and received his Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law in 1975. Career Following law school, Southwick clerked for the Presiding Judge, John F. Onion, Jr., of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals from 1975 to 1976, and then, in Mississippi, for Judge Charles Clark of the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals from 1976 to 1977. Southwick was in private practice as an attorney in Jackson, Mississippi with the firm Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes from 1977 to 1989, serving as a partner from 1983 to 1989. In 1989, Southwick entered government service as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice Civil Division. There he supervised the one hundred and twenty-five lawyers of the Federal Programs Branch, which defends suits brought against the United States. He also supervised the Office of Consumer Litigation, a twenty-five lawyer division charged with civil and criminal enforcement of federal consumer laws. Southwick was elected one of the first ten judges of the Mississippi Court of Appeals in 1994. He was a candidate for a seat on the Supreme Court of Mississippi in 1996, coming in third out of five candidates in the general election. He thereafter remained on the court of appeals until the end of 2006 when, with a nomination to a lifetime position in the federal judiciary pending, he did not run for re-election. He attended The JAG School at the University of Virginia and entered U.S. Army JAG Corps from 1992 to 1997. Southwick was on a leave of absence from the court from August 2004 to January 2006. In 2005, he served in Iraq as a Judge Advocate General with the 155th Brigade Combat Team of Mississippi Army National Guard. Southwick also taught law as an adjunct professor at the Mississippi College School of Law and was a member of the American Inns of Court, Charles Clark Chapter. Federal judicial service On January 9, 2007, President George W. Bush nominated Southwick to fill a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for