Special Focus: Black History: Mikaela Nix Among First Black Female Judges Elected to Ninth Circuit

The Honorable Mikaela Nix-Walker, one of the first Black female judges elected to the Ninth Circuit bench. With family here since 1887, Judge Nix-Walker is a true native Floridian. She grew up in Miami, but often traveled to Gainsville as a child to visit her relatives and the family farm. When she wasn’t traveling back and forth, she dedicated her time to her studies and multiple extracurricular activities.

From Girl Scouts to playing clarinet and piano, Judge Nix-Walker was a busy child. After playing musical instruments for so many years, many in her family thought she’d go on to pursue the arts. But a different career grabbed Judge Nix-Walker’s attention.

On a trip to the courthouse with her dad for his jury duty, she became enamored with the workings of a courtroom. She knew immediately that becoming a lawyer and a judge was her dream. Her father, noticing this passion, quickly found a judge who let his daughter shadow him for a day.

When it came time for college, Judge Nix-Walker made the move up to Orlando to attend the University of Central Florida. There, she was involved in many clubs and organizations including her time as a founding member of the Blue Key Honor Society UCF chapter and president of the UCF Black Alumni Association.

After graduation, she chose to take a couple years off before attending law school to gain some work experience. But she was still devoted to her dream of becoming a lawyer, so chose to take up a job with the law firm Boies, Schiller, Flexner LLP. Judge Nix-Walker returned to school at Florida A&M University College of Law in 2006. In 2009, she graduated from the university with her juris doctor, ready to get started in the career she dreamed of since she was young.

She opened her own firm and practiced family law for many years before she decided to accomplish the next step of her dream: becoming a judge. And in the 2020 election, she made that dream a reality and became one of the first Black women to be elected to the Ninth Circuit bench.