The District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission ("Commission") has recommended to the President the names of the three attorneys listed below for his consideration in selecting nominees to fill the judicial vacancy on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia ("Superior Court") created by the retirement of the Honorable Heidi M. Pasichow. The President has sixty (60) days to select a nominee to fill this vacancy.
The Commission recommends the following candidates for the Pasichow vacancy:
Christopher M. De Bono, Esq., serves as Senior Counsel in the United States Department of Justice's (DOJ) Office of Legal Policy, where he leads Department-wide efforts to develop and implement the Department's policy objectives and advises Department leadership on policies, legislation, and regulations involving drugs, firearms, violent crime, and digital assets. Before assuming this role, he served as a senior attorney with the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Office of Chief Counsel, where he advised leadership on drug trafficking enforcement issues, including criminal discovery and disclosure obligations, the use of force, and dark web marketplace investigative techniques. Mr. De Bono also defended the DEA in all stages of litigation before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Merit Systems Protection Board, and federal trial and appellate courts.
Before entering government service, Mr. De Bono was an associate at Ropes & Gray LLP, where he specialized in white-collar criminal defense and maintained an active pro bono practice. Additionally, he worked at Pepper Hamilton LLP (now Troutman Pepper Locke), where he specialized in complex civil litigation.
Mr. De Bono received his Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Hofstra University and his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude and Order of the Coif, from The George Washington University Law School. Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Jose L. Linares on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.
Hon. June K. Lee currently serves as an Immigration Judge with the DOJ, Executive Office for Immigration Review. Before this appointment, she spent a decade representing low-income victims of domestic violence and human trafficking, first at Queens Legal Services, then at Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center, and finally at Legal Aid DC. Judge Lee has also worked as a litigation associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
Judge Lee served as co-chair of the Pro Bono and Community Service Committee at the Asian American Bar Association of New York, where she helped establish a free legal advice clinic in Manhattan's Chinatown. She has also served as a board member of the Washington Council of Lawyers. In October 2018, Judge Lee received the Allies in Justice Award from the Asian/Pacific Islander Domestic Violence Resource Project.
Judge Lee received her Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from Bowdoin College and her Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School, where she served as Assistant Managing Editor of the Journal of Law and Policy.
E. Lindsey Maxwell, II, Esq., serves as Director of the Office of Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining. While serving in that role, Mayor Bowser also appointed him to serve briefly as the Interim Director of the Department of Human Resources, giving Mr. Maxwell the rare distinction of being the first person to hold the dual role of both the District's chief personnel officer and chief labor counsel.
Mr. Maxwell began his professional career in Washington, D.C., at Beins, Axelrod & Kraft, where he represented labor unions in contract negotiations, arbitrations, and litigation. He later became a partner at the Perennial Law Group, where he represented the NBA Referees Association, the Major League Baseball Umpires Association, and dozens of authors, musicians, television personalities, and athletes. He was also a partner at The Bailey Law Group, where he litigated several successful cases to verdict. There, he also took over as the firm's head of Middle East operations, advising clients in Istanbul, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. Further, Mr. Maxwell served as the Supervisory Attorney of the District of Columbia Public Employees Relations Board, where he oversaw the agency's legal operations and litigated all cases in the D.C. courts in which the agency was a party.
Mr. Maxwell earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh and his Juris Doctor from the University of Akron.
Please direct any questions to the Commission's Executive Director, Tracy B. Nutall, Esq., at (202) 879-0478 or [email protected].
Members of the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission
The Honorable Marie C. Johns
PPC-Leftwich
1400 K Street, NW
Suite 1000
Washington, DC 20005-2403
(202) 434-9124
[email protected]
Benjamin F. Wilson, Esq.
7825 Orchid Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20012
(202) 657-2534
[email protected]
Addy R. Schmitt, Esq.
Kropf Moseley Schmitt
1100 H Street, NW
Suite 1220
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 617-5791
[email protected]
Vincent H. Cohen, Jr., Esq.
Dechert LLP
1900 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006-1110
(202) 261-3432
[email protected]
Yaida O. Ford, Esq.
Ford Law Pros P.C.
1001 L Street, SE
Washington, DC, 20003
(202) 792-4946
[email protected]
The Honorable Linda W. Cropp
4001 18th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20011
(202) 726-0505
[email protected]
The Honorable Tanya S. Chutkan
United States District Court
for the District of Columbia
United States Courthouse
333 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 354-3390
[email protected]