Gregory M. Sleet
US District Court for the District of Delaware
Honorable Gregory Sleet is a native of New York City, is a graduate of Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia and Rutgers University School of Law at Camden, New Jersey, where he was an Earl Warren Legal Scholar. He received his Juris Doctorate in 1976. On April 27, 1998, Judge Sleet was confirmed by the United States Senate to the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. He was sworn-in as the first African- American to become a Judge of that Court on September 28, 1998, and served as Chief Judge from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2014. Judge Sleet has had a varied professional experience in the law consisting primarily of civil and criminal litigation and corporate legal work. From 1992-1994, he served as inhouse counsel in the legal department of Hercules Incorporated. Prior to that, he was a Deputy Attorney General for the State of Delaware and, prior to that, practiced law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for fourteen years -- six of those as an assistant public defender with the Defender Association of Philadelphia. At age 43, Judge Sleet took the oath of office on Monday, June 13, 1994, to become the first African-American U.S. Attorney for the District of Delaware. In January of 1995, he was appointed by United States Attorney General Janet Reno to the Attorney General's Advisory Committee for a two-year term. The AGAC is a group of U.S. Attorneys from around the country that meets regularly in Washington, D.C. to assist and advise the Attorney General in setting policy and strategic direction for the U.S. Department of Justice. On August 4th of 1995, Ms. Reno further honored U.S. Attorney Sleet by naming him the Vice Chair of the Committee for the 1995-96 session. Additionally, Judge Sleet is the 1994 Distinguished Service Award recipient of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Central Delaware Branch. In 1998, Delaware Today magazine selected him as Delawarean of the Year. In 2000, Judge Sleet was named one of “Fifty of the Finest” graduates in the first fifty years of Rutgers University - Camden Division. In 2014, Judge Sleet received the Outstanding Public Service Award from the New York Intellectual Property Law Association. He was also the Philadelphia Intellectual Property Law Association's honoree in 2014. Judge Sleet has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law teaching courses in Patent Litigation at Duke University School of Law, Widener University School of Law, and Rutgers School of Law. He is a former member of the Third Circuit Judicial Council and presently serves on the Council's Automation & Technology and Facilities & Security Committees, as well as the Council's Committee on Model Criminal Jury Instructions. Judge Sleet has presided over more than 92 civil trials and 32 criminal trials. A substantial majority of his civil trial work has involved intellectual property, principally patent cases, and a substantial number of those have been so-called Hatch-Waxman or Abbreviated New Drug (ANDA) cases.
(06/17)
