Davis was born in Columbus, Ohio. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University in 1973 and a Juris Doctor from Rutgers Law School in 1976.[1] Davis was an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia from 1977 to 1980. After leaving the D.A.'s office Davis spent a year as an attorney for the Pennsylvania Crime Commission. He returned to the D.A.'s office from 1981 to 1987, before spending a year in the general counsel's office at the University of Pennsylvania. He was briefly in private practice in Pennsylvania in 1987. He was elected a judge on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, as one of the Casey Five, to replace judges removed from that court for corruption,[2][3] where he served from 1987 to 2002 in that court's criminal division.[4]
Federal judicial service
Expired nominations to district court under Clinton