Not recently, but in the past, we recall Miami Judges voluntarily leaving the bench for career purposes. It is a rare occurrence in Miami. The last District Court federal judge that we can recall leaving the bench voluntarily (who was NOT on senior status like Judge Ungaro) was Judge Tom Scott, a legendary and prodigious hard worker. Janet Reno, no slouch in the hard working department (she was known to bring a sleeping bag to work on Fridays and sleep in the REGJB) once told us that the hardest working judge she ever saw was Tom Scott, who longtime denizens of the REGJB will recall was also a Circuit Court Judge- and, under the truth is stranger than fiction category, did a little state court appointed death penalty defense work in the interregnum between leaving Circuit court and before his District court appointment. He also brought his dog to chambers, but that's another story.
Which brings us to the center of the legal universe: The SDNY.
I was at the point where I had children who were approaching college, with a husband becoming an ex-husband who was just getting his feet on the ground at a law firm so he had not yet started to earn Big Law money. I frankly did not believe I could continue to perform as a judge because of the money.
Katherine Forrest who left the bench of the prestigious Southern District of New York, quoted in an interview given to the National Law Journal (Motto: "We read Rumpole, we just don't admit it"). Forrest had served as a judge for seven years before she joined Cravath in 2018. She recently made a lateral partner move to Paul Weiss.
Hat-tip Above the Law.