Hon. Christopher Costa is an Administrative Law Judge for the District of Columbia Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH), which adjudicates cases from over 40 agencies, boards, and commissions. He presides over bench-trial-type hearings and issues decisions generally appealable to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. He also teaches federal civil procedure to foreign-trained L.L.M. candidates at the Georgetown University Law Center.

Before OAH, Judge Costa had a wide-ranging litigation practice in law firms and federal, state, and local government offices before D.C., Virginia, and Maryland state and federal courts. He also lobbied on civil, criminal, and other issues for a government client in legislative proceedings. For years, Judge Costa handled pro bono matters, such as consumer protection, divorce, and child custody, for individuals through the Legal Services Corporation and the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center.

Judge Costa earned a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the George Mason University School of Law and was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of International Legal Studies and a Dean’s Scholar. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in French and Political Science from the University of Rhode Island as an Alumni Merit Scholar with a year of coursework in French in Orléans, France. Following undergraduate studies, Judge Costa served as a Peace Corps Volunteer for two years in the Transylvanian region of Romania. After law school, Judge Costa clerked for three judges on the Circuit Court of the City of Richmond and served in the Department of Justice through the U.S. Attorney General's Honors Program.