WHAT: Investiture of Jennifer M. Anderson 
 
WHERE: Atrium, Moultrie Courthouse – Third Floor, 500 Indiana Ave, NW 
 
WHEN: Friday, October 27, 2006 at 4:00 pm 
 
WHO:  Chief Judge Rufus G. King III; Judge-designate Jennifer M. Anderson 
 
Biography:  Ms. Anderson was born in Dublin, Ireland and immigrated with her family to Baltimore, Maryland in 1967. She graduated magna cum laude from Mount Saint Mary’s College in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.  In 1984, she received her Juris Doctor from Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law, where she was Associate Editor of the Law Review.   
 
Upon graduation from law school, Ms. Anderson was an associate at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, specializing in commercial litigation.  From 1987 to 1991, Ms. Anderson worked at Dechert, Price & Rhodes, where her practice consisted primarily of commercial litigation and white-collar criminal defense.  
 
 In 1991, Ms. Anderson was sworn in as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.  Ms. Anderson worked for a year in the Appellate Division, where she argued cases before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.  Ms. Anderson then served in the Misdemeanor, Felony Trial, Grand Jury, Federal Narcotics, and Homicide Sections.  In 1996, she became part of the Fifth District Community Prosecution pilot project in an effort to better identify and successfully prosecute violent offenders.       
 
Ms. Anderson was selected in 1997 as a Special Prosecutor for the National Church Arson Task Force.  In this capacity, she traveled around the country conducting comprehensive grand jury investigations and prosecutions of civil rights violations arising out of church arsons.  She focused primarily on unsolved cases where significant time had elapsed.  She received a Special Commendation from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms for her work on a series of church bombings in Illinois where one man was killed and over sixty people were injured.  In that case, she provided legal advice to a multijurisdictional task force of over one hundred agents and officers. 
 
Upon returning to the US Attorney’s Office in 1998, Ms. Anderson rejoined the Community Prosecution Section and specialized in homicides and other violent crimes that occurred in the Fifth Police District.  She became one of the most prolific and successful trial lawyers in the office.  In recognition of her outstanding trial skills, she was selected as Senior Litigation Counsel in February 2000.   
 
Ms. Anderson was then promoted to Deputy Chief of the Felony Trial Section.  She was recognized in 2001for her prosecution of the nationally known murder of two Wilson High School students with the Director’s Award – a nationwide award given by the Department of Justice for superior performance in a specific case. 
 
In 2002, Ms. Anderson became the Chief of Homicide and Major Crimes for the Third Police District.  That year the British Council also awarded her an Atlantic Fellowship in Public Policy.  As part of the fellowship, Ms. Anderson spent ten months in the United Kingdom based at the Institute of Comparative Legal Studies and the London School of Economics, School of Law.   
 
Upon her return, Ms. Anderson became Chief of the Fifth District Homicide and Major Crimes Section and subsequently Deputy Chief of the Homicide Section.  She continued to prosecute some of the office’s most challenging homicide cases, including the multijurisdictional investigation of a serial arsonist who terrorized the city over a two-year period by setting fire to residences.   In addition to her extensive trial experience, Ms. Anderson has worked closely with local law enforcement on training issues.  She routinely was a guest lecturer for the Metropolitan Police Department   Additionally, she has worked with the District of Columbia Fire Department in establishing protocol and training for their Arson Investigation Unit.  Ms. Anderson also was an instructor for NITA – the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.