United States District Court
Middle District of Florida
The Middle District of Florida will appoint a full-time magistrate judge for a term beginning no earlier than August 1, 2026. The annual salary is $229,908. The term of office is eight years. The magistrate judge’s residence and duty station will be in the Tampa Division.
The Middle District utilizes magistrate judges to the maximum extent permissible under 28 U.S.C. § 636, and the duties of the position are demanding and wide-ranging. Those duties are detailed in an administrative order of the Chief Judge available on the Court’s website.
The minimum qualifications for appointment as a magistrate judge are established in 28 U.S.C. § 631(b) and by regulation of the Judicial Conference of the United States. To satisfy the minimum qualifications, a person must:
1) Be, and have been for at least five years, a member in good standing of the bar of the highest court of a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Territory of Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the Virgin Islands of the United States;
2) Have been engaged in the active practice of law for a period of at least five years (with some substitutes authorized);
3) Be competent to perform all the duties of the office, of good moral character, emotionally stable and mature, committed to equal justice under the law, in good health, patient, courteous, and capable of deliberation and decisiveness;
4) Not be related to a judge of the district court; and
5) Be less than 70 years old.
A merit selection panel consisting of lawyers and other members of the community will review each application. After an interview of selected applicants, the panel will recommend to the district judges in confidence the five applicants whom the panel considers best qualified. The district court will interview the five finalists on March 26, 2026, in the Tampa courthouse. The new magistrate judge will be appointed only after a satisfactory FBI full-field investigation and IRS tax check. The appointee must comply with the financial disclosure requirements of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, 5 U.S.C. app. 4 §§ 101-111. Due consideration will be given to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, age, gender, religion, national origin, or disability.
Each applicant must submit a completed application, available on the Court's website, and a recent and in-depth writing sample to submissions@flmd.uscourts.gov by 5:00 p.m. on February 20, 2026. Any letters of recommendation (which are not required and should be limited to no more than three) must be attached to the application. All application materials must be combined and submitted as one PDF document.
Unless the applicant consents to additional disclosure, only the members of the selection panel, the district judges, and necessary court staff will view the applications. The selection panel’s and the district judges’ deliberation will remain confidential.