NORTHAMPTON — Governor’s Council member Tara Jacobs met with Deepika Shukla about a year ago, and was impressed by the assistant U.S. attorney’s breadth of experience.

“Where she started you wouldn’t necessarily guess from where she is now,” Jacobs said.

On Wednesday, Shukla, of Northampton was one of five prospective Superior Court judges nominated by Gov. Maura Healey. The Governor’s Council holds hearings on the nominees before voting on whether to confirm them.

Shukla is chief of the U.S. attorney’s Springfield office, supervising all federal criminal cases in western Massachusetts.

She also is an adjunct professor at Western New England School of Law, and has worked as a plaintiffs’ civil rights attorney at the Connecticut Fair Housing Center and in private practice.

She was not available to speak to the Gazette this week, but Jacobs said several people had indicated their support for her and encouraged her nomination.

Before becoming a prosecutor, Jacobs said, Shukla worked in legal aid and advocacy, a balance of the kind Jacobs said she looks for in prospective judges.

“I like seeing a spectrum of experience,” she said. “I want to see someone who’s humble, curious, and aware of their own biases.”

She said she appreciates that Healey also values diversity on the judicial bench.

Shukla obtained her bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

Jacobs announced Friday she has scheduled a local public confirmation hearing July 29 for Shukla.

It will be held in the Moot Court Room at Western New England University, 1215 Wilbraham Road, Springfield. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., and testimony will be from 6 to 7:30.

“Local hearings are an opportunity for the local community to easily participate in the process of vetting a locally appointed candidate to the courts,” Jacobs said in a statement.

The formal Governor’s Council hearing for Shukla is scheduled for July 31 at the State House in Boston at 10 a.m.