During the mid-1990s, Oetken worked as an associate with the law firm of
Jenner & Block. In 1997, he joined the
Office of Legal Counsel in the United States Department of Justice as an attorney-advisor, where he worked until becoming an associate counsel to the president of the United States in the office of the
White House Counsel in 1999. In 2004, Oetken joined
Cablevision Systems Corporation as its associate general counsel, until 2011 when he left to join the federal bench. New York Senator
Charles Schumer recommended Oetken to the post. Schumer recommended Oetken a year after he recommended former
Assistant United States Attorney Daniel S. Alter, also openly gay, whom the White House declined to nominate after concluding, because of statements that had been attributed to Alter, that his nomination was unlikely to survive the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a
filibuster in the Senate. Schumer stated that diversity was a consideration in his recommendations for federal judgeships, and that he was "shocked to learn" that no openly gay men had served on the federal bench. He received his commission on July 20, 2011. and the first openly
gay male federal judge. == Personal life ==