The Honorable Roy W. McLeese III

Judge Roy W. McLeese III was appointed to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in 2012 by President Barack Obama. Judge McLeese received his B.A. cum laude in 1981 from Harvard College, and his J.D. cum laude in 1985 from the NYU School of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the Law Review. After graduating from law school, Judge McLeese served as a law clerk to then-Judge Antonin Scalia, on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He then clerked for Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court of the United States.

In 1987, Judge McLeese joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. After rotating through various sections of that Office, he became Deputy Chief of the Appellate Division in 1990. From 1997 through 1999, Judge McLeese served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States, briefing and arguing cases in the Supreme Court. After returning to the United States Attorney’s Office, he became Chief of the Appellate Division in 2005. In 2010, Judge McLeese served for five months as Acting Deputy Solicitor General of the United States, supervising the criminal litigation of the United States in the Supreme Court. He then returned to the United States Attorney’s Office, where he again served as Chief of the Appellate Division until he was appointed to the D.C. Court of Appeals.

While working in the Department of Justice, Judge McLeese received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award and the John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement for Handling of Appeals. He also received the Harold Sullivan and John Evans Awards from the Assistant United States Attorneys Association. In 2023, Judge McLeese received the Rex Lee Advocacy Award, which recognizes advocates who have exemplified excellent and principled advocacy throughout their legal career, consistent with the award’s namesake, a former U.S. Solicitor General.

Judge McLeese has taught Criminal Procedure as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center. He delivered the Institute of Judicial Administration’s (IJA) 27th William J. Brennan, Jr, Lecture on State Courts and Social Justice. See Trying to Write Fair Opinions, 97 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 1353 (2022). He currently serves on the IJA Board of Advisors and as a faculty member of IJA’s New Appellate Judges Seminar.