U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan may help name two federal judges.

The first-term Democratic senator will likely give advice to President Obama, who may fill at least two of the four vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, reports former Domester David Ingram, now of the Legal Times.

She met with several possible nominees for the 4th Circuit a few weeks ago, but she does not appear to have moved quickly to set up an internal system for recommending anyone, says Burley Mitchell Jr., a former chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court and a partner in the Raleigh office of Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice.

"She’s just gotten there," Mitchell says. "I don’t think that they've even worked out any of the mechanisms."

Hagan's office declined to comment on the process. Possible nominees include UNC-Chapel Hill law professor S. Elizabeth Gibson, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Rich Leonard and N.C. Appeals Court Judge Jim Wynn.

Others who are interested include U.S. District Court Judge James Beaty Jr.; private lawyers James Cooney III, Douglas Kingsbery and Robert Spearman; Southern Coalition for Social Justice director Anita Earls, N.C. Appeals Judge Martha Geer and N.C. Supreme Court Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson.

A Dome reader sends along one more name for the Fourth Circuit.

Following on the logic of other would-be judges, the legal insider writes that S. Elizabeth Gibson of the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law may also be under consideration.

Gibson clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court and worked for a Washington, D.C., law firm before becoming a professor.

She was nominated under President Clinton as well.

Other names previously mentioned: James A. Beaty Jr., Charles Becton, Robert Spearman, Rich Leonard, Jim Wynn, Patricia Timmons-Goodson and Martha Geer.

Four North Carolinians could be up for a federal judgeship.

President-elect Barack Obama and the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate will have the opportunity next year to fill four vacancies on the Fourth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals.

The Richmond-based court oversees cases from the Carolinas, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Because of its reputation as the most conservative appeals court in the country, many legal experts expect Obama and the Senate to attempt to move the court leftward.

Although a North Carolinian will not necessarily be nominated, the talk in Raleigh's legal circles is that four Tar Heels may be up for consideration:

Rich Leonard: A U.S. Bankrtupcy Court judge in the Eastern District, Leonard came close to an appointment before because of his friendship with former Sen. John Edwards.

Jim Wynn: A state Appeals Court judge, Wynn also came close during the Clinton administration but Sen. Jesse Helms blocked his appointment.

Patricia Timmons-Goodson: A state Supreme Court justice, Timmons-Goodson also made a lengthy list of potential Supreme Court picks by Scotusblog.com.

Martha Geer: A state Appeals Court judge, Geer handled a number of cases in the U.S. Appeals Court while in private practice handling corporate litigation.

The usual caveats apply. As with all conventional wisdom, these names have surfaced because they are the most obvious picks, but that doesn't mean they're the only choices.