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About the Judicial Council Division

For decades, several judges in Washington, D.C. were active members in the National Bar Association and the WBA. They attended conventions, planned and participated in panel discussions, and otherwise advanced Houstonian jurisprudence. To accommodate the interests of a younger generation of judicial officers, and to direct more attention to local issues, in September 1999, the WBA created the Judicial Council Division of the Bar Association. Members include all judicial officers from the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, the United States court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, the United States Court of Federal Claims, the United States Tax Court, as well as Magistrate Judges and Administrative Law Judges.

WBA Past President Donald A. Thigpen, Jr. created this Division during his administration. The first officers of this esteemed Division were Judge Arthur L. Burnett, Sr. and Judge Paul Webber, III, both Seniors Judges of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and recipients of the WBA's prestigious Ollie May Cooper Award. After the first election of officers in early 2000, the Judicial Council Division began an ambitious program, planning activities for its members, as well as for WBA members and the greater legal community.

 

Meet the Team

Letter From The Chair

It is a pleasure to greet my fellow judges and WBA members in this, my second year of service as Chair of the WBA Judicial Council. Your JC Executive Board is Judge Robert Rigsby, Chair-Elect; Judge Sherri Beatty-Arthur, Vice-Chair; Judge Errol Arthur, Financial Secretary; Judge Leslie Meeks, Recording Secretary, and Judge Denise Wilson-Taylor (Ret.), Board Member-at-large.

With so many retirements, we are fewer in number, but mighty as ever. Our last showcase program, the 17th Annual Spring Symposium, garnered standing-room-only crowds, and was very well-received by the judges and members of the public. We are pleased to offer this free and scholarly program and reception each year. Thanks to Judge Pamela Gray (Ret.), the JC was also able to present it’s first scholarship award at last year’s symposium to the most deserving teacher/student in Washington, D.C., in honor of the late Edward Clarence “Donn” Gray. Thanks to the generosity of Judge Gray, Judge Carol Ann Dalton, and others, this award has been fully endowed, and we look forward to making this scholarship/award for many years to come.

Our judges are also fully invested in the great programs put on by the award-winning Washington Bar Association. Of all the outstanding volunteer bars in the District of Columbia, it bears repeating that the WBA was the first to be voted “Most Outstanding Voluntary Bar” in Washington, D.C.

Our members share their unique experience and knowledge with new and senior members of the bar, as well as the community. We are military veterans, former federal prosecutors, former defense attorneys, as well as former and current law professors at Howard, Harvard, Georgetown, George Washington, and many outstanding law schools. We are happy to serve as mentors, teachers, career counselors, and volunteers for all of the WBA programs that educate the children, and that feed the hungry and the homeless.

So join us! We are very collegial, and are happy to share your ideas and talents with our members, as well as the broader WBA. Our 2018 Annual Spring Symposium is entitled “Judges and Journalists: Keeping America Free!” It will focus on the incredibly important role that attorneys, the courts, and our “fourth estate” has played, and continues to play, in protecting our Constitutional freedoms. For more information, contact me at: alexmanuel2002@gmail.com. We will be happy to welcome you into our membership, and we look forward to hearing from you.
 

Alex Manuel, Administrative Judge
 
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
 
Washington, D.C

 

Chair H. Alexander Manuel
Administrative Law Judge, United States Department of Housing and Urban Development

Judge Alex Manuel has served as an administrative judge at both the federal and state levels for over 15 years. As an administrative judge with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development, he currently presides over lender liability cases involving federally-insured mortgages, as well as government sanction cases involving HUD lenders and contractors. In 1996, he was appointed as an administrative hearing officer by the Virginia Supreme Court where he handled adversarial, due process cases involving special education disputes, and Title VII cases involving state employees. Judge Manuel was also engaged as in-house counsel for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and as a partner with the Los Angeles-based firm of Meserve, Mumper & Hughes from 1988 – 1993. He continued to engage in financial regulatory practice with his own firm of Gray, Manuel, Keshen & Lafalce, P.C., in strategic alliance with the former Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro of San Francisco, CA., until he returned to government practice in 2001. Judge Manuel is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School in Philadelphia and is a veteran of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force. He currently serves as Chair of the Judicial Council Division of the Washington Bar Association, and is active with the Judicial Division of the American Bar Association. He is also engaged in numerous community education projects and has won numerous community and professional awards.

 
Judge Wendell P. Gardner, Jr. (Chairperson)
Associate Judge
Superior Court of the District of Columbia
500 Indiana Avenue, Northwest, Chambers 1420
Washington, D.C. 20001
P: (202) 879-1810
F: (202) 879-0148
Gardnewp@dcsc.gov
Judge Caryn L. Hines (Member-at-Large)
Administrative Law Judge
District of Columbia Office of Administrative Hearings
441 4th Street, Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20001
P: (202) 671-0134
F: (202) 442-9451
caryn.hines@dc.gov
Judge Fern Flanagan Saddler (Immediate Past Chairperson)
Associate Judge
Superior Court of the District of Columbia
500 Indiana Avenue, Northwest
Washington, D.C. 20001
Judge Gretchen Naomi Rohr (Vice-Chairperson)
Magistrate Judge
Superior Court of the District of Columbia
500 Indiana Avenue, Northwest, Chambers 4450
Washington, D.C. 20001
P: (202) 879-1327
F: (202) 393-6748
gretchen.rohr@dcsc.gov
Judge N. Denise Wilson-Taylor (Recording Secretary)
Administrative Law Judge
District of Columbia Office of Administrative Hearings
441 4th Street, Northwest, Suite 450N
Washington, D.C. 20001
P: (202) 671-0172
F: (202) 442-9451
Denise.Wilson-Taylor@dc.gov
  

Judicial Council Liaison to WBA Website Committee

Judge Herbert B. Dixon, Jr. serves on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and is a former Chair of the National Conference of State Trial Judges. He is a member of the American Law Institute – American Bar Association (ALI-ABA) Technology Advisory Panel, and the Planning Board for ABA TECHSHOW®. He is chair of the ABA’s Judicial Division Court Technology Committee, Technology Columnist for The Judges’ Journal magazine, a member of the ABA House of Delegates, and Senior Judicial Advisor to William & Mary Law School’s Courtroom 21 Project. Judge Dixon is a former Presiding Judge of the Superior Court’s Civil Division and the Multi-Door Dispute Resolution Division of the court, and was chair of the court’s electronic filing pilot project.

Former Chairs of the Judicial Council

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Judge Claudia A. Crichlow

Judge Claudia A. Crichlow

12th Chair, 2011 – 2012 Administrative Law
D.C. Office of Administrative Hearings

Judge N. Denise Wilson-Taylor

Judge N. Denise Wilson-Taylor

11th Chair, 2010 – 2011 Administrative Law
D.C. Office of Administrative Hearings

Judge Anita M. Josey-Herring

Judge Anita M. Josey-Herring

10th Chair, 2009 – 2010
Superior Court of the District of Columbia

Judge Lee F. Satterfield

Judge Lee F. Satterfield

9th Chair, 2008 – 2009
Superior Court of the District of Columbia

Magistrate Judge S. Pamela Gray

Magistrate Judge S. Pamela Gray

7th Chair, 2006 – 2007
Superior Court of the District of Columbia

Magistrate Judge Karen Aileen Howze

Magistrate Judge Karen Aileen Howze

8th Chair, 2007 – 2008
Superior Court of the District of Columbia

Judge Maurice A. Ross

Judge Maurice A. Ross

6th Chair, 2005 – 2006
Superior Court of the District of Columbia

Judge Erik P. Christian

Judge Erik P. Christian

5th Chair, 2004 – 2005
Superior Court of the District of Columbia

Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby

Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby

4th Chair, 2003 – 2004
Superior Court of the District of Columbia

Judge Lillian McEwen

Judge Lillian McEwen

3rd Chair, 2002 – 2003
Securities and Exchange Commission

Judge Mary A. Gooden Terrell

Judge Mary A. Gooden Terrell

2nd Chair, 2001 – 2002
Superior Court of the District of Columbia

Judge Arthur L. Burnett, Sr.

Judge Arthur L. Burnett, Sr.

1st Chair, 2000 – 2001
Superior Court of the District of Columbia

The objectives and purposes of the Association are: to improve, benefit and protect the well-being of the legal profession and its members; to enhance the professional skills of its members; to encourage professional and citizenship responsibilities among the Membership; to encourage spiritual and moral values; to advance the science of jurisprudence and the administration of justice; to improve the standards of legal education; and, to encourage legal research and excellence consistent with the philosophy of Houstonian Jurisprudence.

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