WHAT:  Investiture of Todd Edelman 
 
WHERE: Third Floor Atrium, Moultrie Courthouse  500 Indiana Ave, NW 
 
WHEN: Friday, October 8, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. 
 
WHO:  DC Superior Court Chief Judge Lee F. Satterfield; DC Superior Court Senior Judge Truman A. Morrison III 
 
Biography: Todd E. Edelman, the son of Dr. Sybil K. Mitchell and the late Dr. Alan H. Edelman, was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri.  He received his B.A., cum laude and with Distinction in Political Science, from Yale College in 1990. While an undergraduate, he was the recipient of the Yale Community Service Award for his work with New Haven’s Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen.  Judge Edelman was awarded his law degree, cum laude, by the New York University (NYU) School of Law in 1994.  At NYU, Judge Edelman was selected as a Root-Tilden Scholar for his academic achievement and commitment to public service, and served on both the Moot Court Board of Directors and the Washington Square Legal Services Board of Directors. 
 

After his graduation from law school, Judge Edelman moved to Washington to serve as a law clerk for The Honorable William B. Bryant on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.  Following his clerkship, Judge Edelman was awarded an E. Barrett Fellowship at the Georgetown University Law Center.  As a Prettyman Fellow, he spent two years representing indigent defendants in Superior Court and supervising law students in Georgetown’s Criminal Justice Clinic.

 
 From 1997 to 2005, Mr. Edelman represented indigent men and women in criminal cases as a trial attorney at the Public Defender Service (PDS) for the District of Columbia.  Judge Edelman tried dozens of cases to judges and juries throughout his eight years at PDS, and began serving as lead counsel in homicides and other cases on the Superior Court’s Felony One calendars in 2000.  He was promoted to Supervising Attorney in the Trial Division in 2001, and to Chief of PDS’ Serious Felony Section in 2002. In 2004, the Director of PDS named Judge Edelman to be the agency’s Training Director; in that position, he designed and conducted an intensive trial skills training program for new staff attorneys and directed professional education training programs for all staff attorneys.  Judge Edelman also represented PDS on the District of Columbia Advisory Commission on Sentencing as the Commission developed the District’s Voluntary Sentencing Guidelines in 2003-04.  
 

In 2005, Judge Edelman became Of Counsel at the firm of Bredhoff & Kaiser, P.L.L.C.   In private practice, he primarily represented labor unions and pension funds, and focused his work on complex civil litigation in federal and state courts nationwide.  Judge Edelman represented both plaintiffs and defendants in civil cases involving RICO, employment, labor law, employee benefit, and civil rights claims. He also practiced before arbitrators and administrative tribunals; conducted internal investigations on behalf of employers; and represented individuals in criminal prosecutions and investigations in a number of jurisdictions. 
 

Judge Edelman returned to Georgetown Law as a clinical professor in 2008.  At Georgetown Law, he taught classes on criminal law and procedure, evidence, and trial practice in the Criminal Justice Clinic; supervised students and post-graduate Fellows on criminal cases in Superior Court; and served as lead counsel on a small caseload of serious felony cases.  Judge Edelman had previously taught Criminal Trial Litigation as an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown Law from 2004 to 2008. 
 

In addition to teaching at Georgetown Law, Judge Edelman has frequently volunteered his time as a trainer and lecturer on trial practice issues.  He has served on the faculty of the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop, the Southern Public Defender Training Center, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association Trial Advocacy College, the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council Honors Program, the AFLCIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee Litigation Workshop, the Equal Justice Works Leadership Development Training Program, and the Washington Council of Lawyers’ Litigation Skills and Evidence Training Programs.  Judge Edelman has been a guest lecturer at Harvard Law School, Yale Law School, and the George Washington University School of Law, and has led trainings sponsored by numerous law firms, nonprofit legal service providers, and bar organizations.  Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Edelman served on the Board of Directors of the Washington Council of Lawyers and was twice elected by his peers to the Steering Committee of the DC Bar’s Criminal Law and Individual Rights Section.   In 2003, Harvard Law School recognized Judge Edelman’s public service achievements by awarding him a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellowship.