The Honorable Joshua Deahl
Bio
Joshua Deahl was appointed to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in 2019 by President Donald Trump. Judge Deahl was born in Tucson, Arizona, and was raised primarily in Mesa, Arizona. He received a B.S. in political science and a B.A. in philosophy, magna cum laude, from Arizona State University in 2003. He received a J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School in 2006, where he was the student commencement speaker.
After graduating from law school, Judge Deahl served as a law clerk to Judge Fortunato P. Benavides on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He later clerked for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (retired) and Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on the Supreme Court of the United States. After his clerkships, Judge Deahl worked as Counsel in the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice at O’Melveny & Myers in Washington, DC He then returned to the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia in 2012 (he had done one year there between clerkships in 2007–2008), where he continued working until his appointment to the DC Court of Appeals.
Judge Deahl teaches a course on AI in Appellate Practice & Judicial Decisionmaking at UChicago Law School, and he previously taught the course at WashU Law School in St Louis.
For information about clerking for Judge Deahl, please email Deahlclerkships [at] dcappeals.gov.
Details
Phone number
Clerkships & Internships
Judge Deahl has completed hiring for the 2026–2027 clerkship term and is currently accepting applications for the 2027–2028 term. Clerkship terms last for one year and begin in late August or early September. Judge Deahl reviews applications from law graduates and third-year law students on a rolling basis. Consistent with the amended federal law clerk hiring plan, he accepts applications from other law students only at the end of their second year; he begins reviewing those applications in late May. Second-year students may submit an application before spring grades are released, but should supplement their application packet once an updated transcript is available.
Applicants should submit a cover letter, resume, law school transcript, writing sample, and three letters of recommendation. Applicants must submit their materials in a single PDF file to deahlclerkships [at] dcappeals.gov. Recommenders may transmit their letters separately.
Please feel free to email or call chambers with any questions.