The District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission (“Commission”) is delighted to announce that Katherine L. Garrett has been named Executive Director of the Commission. Ms. Garrett joins the Commission after a long career in public service, public interest law, and alternative dispute resolution. Ms. Garrett has extensive experience building effective programs through strategic planning, collaboration, and effective innovation.
Prior to joining the Commission, Ms. Garrett served as the Executive Director of the DC Bar Foundation where she was responsible for administrative and program operations. The DC Bar Foundation provides civil legal aid to promote equal access to justice in the District of Columbia. Prior to serving as the DC Bar Foundation’s Executive Director, Ms. Garrett worked as a trial lawyer specializing in civil rights and employment law, and as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Chief of Staff in the US Department of Justice Office of Policy Development. Ms. Garrett also served as the first Executive Director of the DC Circuit’s Task Force on Gender, Race, and Ethnic Bias, the first official study of the role that race and ethnicity play in the work and worklife of the federal courts, and the second such study of gender. Ms. Garrett has also worked as a consultant supporting public interest and social justice nonprofit institutions.
Ms. Garrett currently teaches Professional Responsibility as an adjunct professor at Howard University Law School, and has also taught as an adjunct at American University’s Washington College of Law and at George Washington University Law School. The Women’s Bar Association of DC named Ms. Garrett Woman Lawyer of the Year in 2012.
Ms. Garrett received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with honors from Vassar College, and earned her law degree with honors from George Washington University Law School. Following law school, Ms. Garrett served as a law clerk to the Honorable Thomas F. Hogan, United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Questions concerning the District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission should be directed to the Executive Director at (202) 879-0478 or via email at [email protected].