The Honorable Catharine F. Easterly
Bio
Judge Catharine Friend Easterly was appointed to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in 2011 by President Barack Obama. Judge Easterly was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but spent most of her childhood in Richmond, Virginia. She received her B.A., cum laude and with Distinction in History, from Yale College in 1992, and her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1996.
After graduating from law school, Judge Easterly worked as an appellate public defender, first at the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County, New York, and then at the Office of the Appellate Defender in New York City. She then joined the New York firm Stillman and Friedman, P.C. as an associate. In 2003, Judge Easterly joined the Special Litigation Division of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, where she worked until her appointment to the Court of Appeals.
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Clerkships & Internships
Judge Easterly’s Hiring Notice for the 2027–28 Term
Judge Easterly will review applications for the 2027-2028 term from law graduates and third-year law students on a rolling basis, beginning in March 2026. Consistent with the amended federal law clerk hiring plan, she accepts applications from other law students only at the end of their second year; she begins reviewing these applications in late May/early June 2026. Second-year students may submit an application before spring grades are released, but they must supplement their application packet once an updated transcript is available.
Judge Easterly employs three law clerks to assist her in chambers. Clerks serve for one-year terms. Judge Easterly is particularly interested in candidates with diverse backgrounds, candidates with employment experience prior to or after law school, and candidates who are planning to pursue a public interest or government service legal career.
An applicant should submit a cover letter, resume, official law school transcript, writing sample, and three letters of recommendation, including at least one from a supervisor in an employment setting (which may include summer or clinical work). The cover letter should specifically address their interest in clerking on the D.C. Court of Appeals. An applicant must submit their materials in a single PDF file to easterlyclerkship [at] dcappeals.gov. The subject line of the application email should be in the following format: Last Name, First Name Clerkship Application. Recommenders may transmit their letters separately to the same email address.
Please feel free to email or call chambers with any questions.