The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California announced Monday that current Fenwick & West partner Virginia DeMarchi has been chosen to fill a seat set to come open when U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard Lloyd retires later this year.

Lloyd announced last year that he intends to retire in June 2018. U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria-Elena James is also set to leave the San Francisco bench in September 2018, but her replacement has yet to be named.

DeMarchi, an IP litigator who represents technology and life sciences companies, has the patent bona fides that the Northern District has come to look for in magistrate judges often tasked with refereeing discovery disputes on the tech-heavy San Jose federal docket.

Prior to DeMarchi's hire, the district most recently brought on Silicon Valley litigator Susan van Keulen from O'Melveny & Myers in September 2016. Van Keulen replaced Paul Grewal, another former big firm litigator who himself left the bench for a litigation position in-house at Facebook.

DeMarchi was not immediately available for a phone interview Monday afternoon. Her selection is contingent on her clearing an FBI background check.

Rodger Cole, Fenwick's managing partner said in an email that firm was “incredibly proud” of DeMarchi's appointment. “Virginia's intellect, calm demeanor and excellent judgment will make her an outstanding judge. Virginia has been a tremendous contributor to the firm for over 20 years and she will be missed,” Cole said. “The bench's gain is our loss.”

Aside from representing tech clients, DeMarchi also served for three years as Fenwick's general counsel. Prior to private practice, she served for two years as a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division in Washington, D.C. She also clerked for U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe of the District of New Hampshire. DeMarchi earned her law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School and her undergraduate degree from Stanford.