Judge Frank M. Hull, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

You have said that U.S. Circuit Judge Elbert Tuttle, whom you clerked for out of law school, helped you become a judge. What lessons from him do you use on the bench? In 1980, you became the first female partner at Powell, Goldstein, Frazier & Murphy. Almost 40 years later, some women at big firms say they still do not get fair treatment in promotions to partnership or compensation. What's your view of this issue? When you were nominated for the Eleventh Circuit in 1997, lawyers said you were "confirmable" in a divided political climate because your decisions as a trial judge were hard to characterize as either liberal or conservative. How much do you think judicial nominees' philosophies predict their abilities to render fair, well-reasoned decisions? Given the countless trials and appeals cases in which you have participated, what do you consider to be essential to a lawyer's ability to succeed for her client? your opposing counsel What is one of your biggest accomplishments in the law, and what was the biggest challenge you had to overcome to achieve it? without the travel