WHAT: Investiture of Judge-designate Jerry Byrd  

WHERE: Third-floor atrium of the Moultrie Courthouse, 500 Indiana Avenue, NW  

WHEN: Friday, November 21 at 4:00pm  

WHO: Chief Judge Rufus King III, presiding Magistrate Judge Aida L. Melendez, administering oath of office Judge designate Jerry Byrd  

BACKGROUND:

Jerry Stewart Byrd was born in Greenville, South Carolina on December 11, 1935, one of five children born to Elliott and Ethel Byrd. He attended the Greenville County Public Schools, graduating from high school in June 1953. In September 1954, Judge Byrd enlisted in the United States Army where he served as a gunner in a field artillery battalion in Wertheim, Germany and later in April 1956 at Fort Carson, Colorado. He also served in the Fort Carson Colorado Army Band and was honorably discharged in September 1957.  

After his discharge, Judge Byrd entered Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he graduated, cum laude, in June 1961, with an A.B. degree in physics. He was a member of the Beta Kappa Chi Scientific Society, president of the Omega Psi Phi Social Fraternity, and in his senior year was elected president of the Student Council. Declining graduate scholarships in physics at the Northwestern and Michigan State Universities, Judge Byrd enrolled in the Howard University School of Law. He was a member of the Howard Law Journal and authored a note entitled, Parental Immunity in Negligence Actions Abolished). He graduated from Howard Law School, cum laude, in 1964. In 1975, Judge Byrd obtained an Associate Degree in Business Administration from the Southeastern University in Washington, DC  

Judge Byrd was admitted by examination to the District of Columbia Bar and the South Carolina Bar. From 1964 to 1965, Judge Byrd worked for the Regional Advice Branch of the National Labor Relations Board. He resigned to join the staff of the Neighborhood Legal Services Program, where he was soon promoted to managing attorney and became Deputy Director five years later.  
In late 1971 Judge Byrd entered the private practice of law, working briefly with the firm of Thompson, Evans and Dolphin, and finally as a sole practitioner. During this period, Judge Byrd was also employed by the Washington Center for Metropolitan Studies and taught undergraduate courses in Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, and American Judicial Process in the Political Science Department of Howard University.  

From 1972 to early 1973, Judge Byrd worked as the supervising attorney for the United Planning Organization Model Cities Consumer Protection Program. While in that position, he testified before the Federal Trade 

Commission on consumer matters and before the DC Council. In 1974, Judge Byrd was appointed by Mayor Walter Washington to serve on the five-member DC Consumer Repair Board. He remained a member until 1977.  

In February 1981, Judge Byrd became a hearing commissioner (now Magistrate Judge) in the Superior Court. He served until September 1997 at which time he resigned to take a position as a US Administrative Law Judge with the Office of Hearing and Appeals of the Social Security Administration in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He later resigned the Administrative Law Judge position and returned to the Superior Court as a Magistrate Judge in January 1998.  

Judge Byrd is a member of the American Bar Association, the Special Judges Division of the American Bar Association, the Washington Bar Association, the Judicial Council of the Washington Bar Association, and the National Child Support Enforcement Association. He is also a member of the Sigma Delta Tau Legal Fraternity, a member of the Board of Directors of the Hospitality Community Federal Credit Union, and a member and vice president of the Buddhist Vihara Society Incorporated of Washington, DC  

Judge Byrd's hobbies include listening to classical music, especially Wolfgang Mozart and Ludwig Beethoven; the study of philosophy and religion; engaging in competitive Olympic style weightlifting; and the practice of Tae Kwon Do, where he obtained his Black Belt from the Jhoon Rhee Institute Of Tae Kwon Do in 1982.  

Judge Byrd has a son, Jerry, Jr., who attends George Mason University.