Then-Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker appointed Kelly B. Lake to begin hearing cases in March 2019. Judge Lake earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1995 from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Juris Doctor in 1998 from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles. From 1999 to 2007, she served as a deputy district attorney for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. From 2007 to 2008 she was an associate legal advisor, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security, in Washington D.C. Judge Lake served in various capacities for the Department of Justice, including: from 2009 to 2010, as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Illinois; from 2010 to 2014 as an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of the Virgin Islands; from 2014 to 2016, as a trial attorney in the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section, Criminal Division, in Washington D.C.; from 2016 to 2017, as the resident legal advisor, Overseas Prosecutorial Development and Training Section (OPDAT), Criminal Division, in Lagos, Nigeria; and from 2017 to 2018, as the resident legal advisor, OPDAT, Criminal Division, in Islamabad, Pakistan. Judge Lake is a member of the State Bar of California and District of Columbia Bar.