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JNC Recommends Candidates for DC Superior Court Vacancies

Monday, October 21, 2019

The District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission (“Commission”) has recommended to the President the names of the six attorneys below for his consideration in selecting nominees to fill the judicial vacancies on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia (“Superior Court”) created by the retirements of the Honorable Michael L. Rankin and the Honorable Judith Bartnoff. The President has sixty (60) days to select a nominee to fill these vacancies.

The Commission recommends the following candidates to fill Judge Rankin’s vacancy:

Danny Lam Nguyen, Esq., is a Trial Attorney in the Fraud Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, where he has worked since 2017. As a Trial Attorney, Mr. Nguyen handles numerous complex financial fraud investigations, both domestically and internationally, of individuals and corporations. Prior to assuming that role, Mr. Nguyen was an Assistant United States Attorney for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia for four years. During that period, Mr. Nguyen investigated and tried violent crime matters in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, specializing in domestic violence, sexual assault, and child sexual and physical abuse cases. Mr. Nguyen also served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Appellate Division and argued several matters before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. For his prosecution work, Mr. Nguyen received two United States Attorney’s Awards for Special Achievement. Before entering government service, Mr. Nguyen was an attorney at the Washington, DC office of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where he specialized in white-collar criminal defense and maintained an active pro bono practice.

Mr. Nguyen received his Bachelor of Arts degrees in sociology and political science, and his Masters of Education degree in counseling and student affairs, from the University of California, Los Angeles. Mr. Nguyen received his Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center. Mr. Nguyen previously clerked for the Honorable Reggie B. Walton of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Hon. Kenia Seoane López is a Magistrate Judge in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Prior to her appointment in 2012, Judge Seoane López served as a Bilingual Attorney Negotiator in the Domestic Violence Unit of the Superior Court. Before joining the Superior Court, she was an Assistant Attorney General in the Legal Services Section of the Child Support Division in the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia. Judge Seoane López is a Board Member of the Spanish Education Development Center, the Secretary of the District of Columbia Chapter of the National Association of Women Judges, the Chair of the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia Judicial Council, and a former president of the Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia. Judge Seoane López received her Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice, cum laude, from Northeastern University, her Masters of Arts degree in Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies from the University of Wisconsin Graduate School, and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School. Upon graduating from law school, Judge Seoane López clerked for the Massachusetts Superior Court and then for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Alicia D. Washington, Esq., is the Assistant Deputy Attorney General for the Public Safety Division (“PSD”) in the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia (“OAG”). She assists with overseeing the management of over 100 employees in the PSD, which includes the Juvenile, Criminal, Mental Health, Domestic Violence and Special Victims, and Restorative Justice Sections. Ms. Washington began her career in OAG over twenty-one years ago, which demonstrates her commitment to public service. Ms. Washington began her tenure at OAG in the General Crimes Section, where she prosecuted adult criminal cases, including traffic, weapons, and quality of life offenses. Ms. Washington has also served in OAG’s Juvenile Section, prosecuting juvenile delinquency offenses, and its General Litigation Division, defending the District and its employees in civil lawsuits. She later supervised OAG’s Juvenile and Neighborhood and Victim Services Sections.

Ms. Washington is also Chairperson of the District’s Concealed Pistol Licensing Review Board, which was established in 2015 to review appeals of any denials of an application for a concealed pistol license issued by the Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, and appeals from license revocations and suspensions. Ms. Washington received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Norfolk State University and her Juris Doctor degree from the Syracuse University College of Law.

The Commission recommends the following candidates to fill Judge Bartnoff’s vacancy:

Dwight E. Crawley, Esq., is a solo practitioner in the District of Columbia who specializes in defending individuals charged with committing federal and state crimes in the District of Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland. Mr. Crawley has served as sole, lead, or associate counsel on multiple capital murder cases as well as other cases involving serious felony crimes and misdemeanors. In addition, Mr. Crawley has successfully obtained numerous acquittals for his clients as well as a reversal, remand, and dismissal of a conviction conceded by the Attorney General of Virginia and ordered by the Supreme Court of Virginia. Prior to starting his own practice as a criminal defense attorney, Mr. Crawley served as an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney for the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney for the City of Richmond, Virginia. There, he prosecuted cases ranging from simple misdemeanors to first-degree murder. Born in Petersburg, Virginia, Mr. Crawley received his Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude, in business management from Virginia State University. Thereafter, he received his Juris Doctor degree from the George Washington University Law School. Following law school, Mr. Crawley clerked for the Honorable William T. Newman, Jr., Chief Judge of the Arlington County Circuit Court in Arlington, Virginia.

Fara T. Gold, Esq., is a Special Litigation Counsel and Senior Sex Crimes Counsel for the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), where she has served as a federal prosecutor since 2009. Ms. Gold travels throughout the country, investigating and prosecuting bias-motivated crimes and law enforcement misconduct cases, with an emphasis on prosecuting sexual misconduct committed by those acting under color of law. In her dual role, Ms. Gold mentors junior attorneys while leading complex investigations, and having developed national expertise handling law enforcement sex crimes, Ms. Gold ensures that such incidents are thoroughly investigated, and, where the evidence permits, federally prosecuted. In 2014, Ms. Gold was awarded the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Service (DOJ’s highest honor), and in 2012, she was awarded the Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding Contributions by a New Employee. She also received the Assistant Attorney General’s Special Commendation Award for Outstanding Performance in 2011 and 2014. Additionally, Ms. Gold serves as an Associate Adjunct Professor at American University’s Washington College of Law.

Prior to joining DOJ, Ms. Gold served for six years as an Assistant State Attorney for the Broward County State Attorney’s Office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where, after rising through the ranks, she specialized in prosecuting sex crimes and child abuse cases. Ms. Gold received her undergraduate degree from Emory University as a member of the Emory Scholars’ Program, and she received her law degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Miami School of Law.

Hon. Heide L. Herrmann was appointed Magistrate Judge by Chief Judge Robert E. Morin in January 2017, and she currently serves in the Criminal and Domestic Violence Divisions of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, handling both civil and criminal matters. Previously, Judge Herrmann worked in the private and public sectors, first as an associate with Hahn Loeser & Parks, in Cleveland, Ohio, and, beginning in 2000, for the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”), where she stayed for sixteen years. Judge Herrmann served as a Trial Attorney in the DOJ Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Natural Resources Section, and the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch. From 2008 through 2014, Judge Herrmann served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, where she prosecuted sex offenses and domestic violence crimes in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Judge Herrmann earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in environmental geology and English, cum laude, from Case Western Reserve University, and her Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Case Western Reserve School of Law. She previously clerked for the Honorable Solomon Oliver Jr., in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

Please direct any questions to the Commission’s Executive Director at (202) 879-0478 or [email protected].