A Magistrate Judge Merit Selection Committee, chaired by Sara J. Varner, First Assistant Federal Defender for the Indiana Federal Community Defenders, Inc. and consisting of 10 other attorneys and two community members, reviewed numerous applications and recommended finalists for the position. The District Judges of the court interviewed the finalists and selected Ms. Klump.
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Ms. Klump is a 2004 graduate of Georgetown University, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and mathematics, with a minor in French. From August 2004 – August 2005, she served as a Brookhaven National Laboratory Fellow with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria. Ms. Klump then joined the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Washington, D.C. as a general scientist.
In May 2008, Ms. Klump enrolled at the University of Michigan Law School, where she was a Darrow Scholar, recipient of the Rakow Scholarship, and earned certificates of merit for performance in Administrative Law and Securities Regulation. She was a contributing editor on the Michigan Law Review and graduated magna cum laude in December 2010.
Following law school, Ms. Klump worked as a summer associate at Arnold & Porter LLP in Denver, Colorado. From August 2011 – August 2012, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable Judith W. Rogers at the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. In September 2012, Ms. Klump took a position as an Assistant United States Attorney in Cleveland, Ohio, where she remained until January 2017. At that time, Ms. Klump became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, where she has remained since. In February 2022, she became the Chief of the Southern District of Indiana’s Drug Trafficking Unit, supervising the practice of six Assistant United States Attorneys while maintaining a docket of complex drug and money laundering investigations.
Ms. Klump is admitted to practice law in the state of Colorado, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
An active participant in the legal community, Ms. Klump is a member of the Indianapolis Bar Association’s Women & the Law Division and Criminal Justice Section. She is also a member of the Women & the Law Division’s Mentoring Program and sits on the 2022-2024 Steering Committee for the Women’s Leadership Initiative, a group focused on enhancing diversity and professional development and relationships throughout the federal court community. Ms. Klump is a former member of the Board of the Northern District of Ohio Federal Bar Association.
Regarding the selection, Chief Judge Pratt remarked, “My fellow district judges and I have had the pleasure of seeing Kendra practice in our court for several years. During that time, she has impressed us with her intelligence, preparedness, and passion for pursuing equal justice under the law. Each of these traits will serve her well as a magistrate judge, and we are delighted to have Kendra join us on the bench. While we will miss Judge Pryor, we are confident in Kendra’s ability to take on her new role with the same dedication and commitment she has shown throughout her career.”
United States Magistrate Judges are appointed by the Judges of the U.S. District Court for a term of eight years and are eligible for reappointment to successive terms. Magistrate Judges preside over many pretrial proceedings in both civil and criminal cases in federal court. A critical component of the position is conducting mediation and settlement proceedings in civil cases, helping parties settle their disputes by agreement. Ms. Klump’s appointment will be effective upon the completion of required IRS and FBI background investigations.