The Honorable Phyllis D. Thompson

Judge Phyllis D. Thompson was appointed to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in 2006 by President George W. Bush. She began her service as a senior judge in February 2022. Judge Thompson was born and raised in the District of Columbia. She earned her B.A. in Anthropology (with distinction) from The George Washington University in 1974, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa during her junior year and was valedictorian of her graduating class. She received her master’s degree in religion (Christian Ethics) from Princeton University in 1976. In 1981, she received her law degree with High Honors from the George Washington University School of Law, where she was elected to Order of the Coif and was a member of the George Washington Law Review.

In 1977–78, Judge Thompson was an instructor in the Department of Theology at Georgetown University, where she also taught as a lecturer while in law school. After law school, she joined the law firm of Covington & Burling, where she became a partner (the first African American woman partner) in 1989 and where she practiced until her appointment to the bench in 2006. During 1984, she served a rotation as a staff attorney at the Neighborhood Legal Services Program, on loan from Covington & Burling.

Judge Thompson served two terms on the D.C. Bar Board of Governors from 1998 to 2004. She was a member of the Steering Committee of the Bar’s District of Columbia Affairs section, and she chaired the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Landlord-Tenant Task Force, which was named “Best Bar Committee” in 1999. From 2001 to 2004, Judge Thompson served on the D.C. Board of Appeals and Review. From 2003 to 2006, Judge Thompson also served as a bar examiner and was a vice-chair of the D.C. Court of Appeals Committee on Admissions.

Judge Thompson recently completed two terms on the Council of the American Bar Association Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, the entity that accredits law schools in the United States. She also served on the Board of Trustees of the National Conference of Bar Examiners, for which she chaired a number of committees, including the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. She has served on the boards of several not-for-profit organizations in the District of Columbia, including the D.C. Circuit Historical Society (initiating its high school outreach program in 2000–01), the Council for Court Excellence, D.C. Appleseed, the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, the Atlas Performing Arts Center, and others.

She has served on a number of D.C. Courts committees and on the Access to Justice Commission and chairs the courts’ Standing Committee on Fairness and Access.