Panayotta Augustin-Birch was sworn in as a United States Magistrate Judge for the Southern District of Florida in September 2022.  She is assigned to the Fort Lauderdale division.  Prior to taking the bench, she was an Assistant Federal PublicDefender in the Federal Public Defender’s Office in West Palm Beach and Fort Pierce from 2008-2022.  She represented individuals charged with federal criminal offenses.  Her duties included trial and court hearings, direct appeals to the circuit court, post-conviction and witness representation, and representation in other matters such as supervised release hearings and probation and parole hearings.  Before joining the Federal Public Defender’s Office, Ms. Augustin-Birch was an Assistant Public Defender in the Law Office of the Public Defender for the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in Broward County, Florida.  Judge Augustin-Birch obtained her bachelor's degree from Florida Atlantic University (’97) and her law degree from Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall Law School (’00).