The Honorable Jennifer Anderson

Judge Anderson was born in Dublin, Ireland, to Frank and Bridget Anderson. In February of 1967, her family immigrated to this country and took up residence in Baltimore, Maryland. Judge Anderson received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, magna cum laude, from Mount Saint Mary’s College in 1981 and her Juris Doctor degree from Columbus School of Law, Catholic University in 1984 where she was Associate Editor of the Law Review.

Upon graduation from law school, Judge Anderson was an associate at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft from 1984 to 1987, specializing in commercial litigation. From 1987 to 1991, Judge Anderson worked at Dechert, Price & Rhodes where her practice consisted primarily of commercial litigation and white-collar criminal defense.

In January of 1991, Judge Anderson was sworn in as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Judge Anderson worked for a year in the Appellate Division where she argued over fifteen cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Judge 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 where assistants were assigned by geographical area in an effort to better identify and successfully prosecute violent offenders.

In 1997, Judge Anderson was selected as a Special Prosecutor for the National Church Arson Task Force. During the fifteen months she was on the Task Force, 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 multi-jurisdictional task force of over one hundred agents and officers.

Upon returning to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 1998, Judge Anderson rejoined the Community Prosecution Section where she 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 February of 2000, in recognition of her outstanding trial skills, she was selected as Senior Litigation Counsel.

In March of 2000, Judge Anderson was promoted to Deputy Chief of the Felony Trial Section. Despite being a supervisor, Judge Anderson continued to try homicide cases. One of her more notable cases was the successful prosecution of Carlton Blount and others for the murder of two students after a fight at a Wilson High School basketball game. These senseless killings caught the attention of the entire city and, indeed, even President Clinton sent condolences and mentioned their death in a speech on school violence. In 2001, in recognition of her work on the Blount case, she was the recipient of the Director’s Award which is a nationwide award given by the Department of Justice for superior performance in a specific case.

In March of 2002, Judge Anderson became the Chief of Homicide and Major Crimes for the Third Police District. Later that same year, the British Council awarded Judge Anderson an Atlantic Fellowship in Public Policy. As part of the fellowship, Judge 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 returning from the fellowship, Judge 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. For example, she was the lead prosecutor for the District of Columbia in a multi-jurisdictional investigation of Thomas Sweatt, a serial arsonist who terrorized the city over a two-year period by setting fire to residences in the middle of the night. Ultimately, Sweatt pled guilty to two homicides and forty-five arsons and received a sentence of life imprisonment.

In addition to her extensive trial experience, Judge Anderson has worked closely with local law enforcement on training issues. She routinely was a guest lecturer for the Metropolitan Police Department. In addition, she worked with the District of Columbia Fire Department in establishing protocol and training for their Arson Investigation Unit. Judge Anderson also was an instructor for NITA – the National Institute of Trial Advocacy.

Since joining the Court, Judge Anderson has served on a variety of committees of the Court, including the Criminal Justice Act Panel Implementation Committee, the Mental Habilitation Committee, the Technology Committee and the Family Court Implementation Committee. Judge Anderson has served in the Civil, Criminal, Domestic Violence and Family Court Divisions.