The Honorable Melanie Acuña

The Honorable Melanie A. Acuña was appointed a magistrate judge by Chief Judge Anita Josey-Herring on July 1, 2024.

Prior to her appointment, Judge Acuña served as a Senior Attorney at Legal Counsel for the Elderly, where she specialized in advocating for low-income elderly residents of Washington D.C. facing eviction on the Superior Court’s Landlord Tenant calendar.

Previously, Judge Acuña worked as a contract attorney for Mil Mujeres, a local nonprofit providing immigration services to low-income Latinos. Prior to Mil Mujeres, she served as an Assistant Public Defender at the Office of the Public Defender for Montgomery County, Maryland for six years. In this capacity, Judge Acuña represented indigent clients in the state’s District and Circuit Courts, handling a wide range of cases including serious traffic offenses, misdemeanors, felonies, probation violations, and advocating for clients in Adult Drug Court. She served as lead counsel in dozens of bench trials and jury trials.

Judge Acuña graduated from Regis College in Massachusetts with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Political Science. She earned her law degree from the University of the District of Columbia – David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC-DCSL). During her time at UDC-DCSL, Judge Acuña was a Dean’s Fellow, recipient of the David Niblack Criminal Defense Scholarship, President of the Student Bar Association, and an active member in Law Review, the Latino Law Student Association, and the Black Law Student Association. After law school she served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Sean D. Wallace in the Prince George’s County Circuit Court.

Judge Acuña is fluent in Spanish. She was born and raised in New Jersey and has been a resident of the District of Columbia for over 20 years.