The Honorable Risa Berkower
Bio
The Honorable Risa Berkower was appointed as a magistrate judge by Chief Judge Anita Josey-Herring on August 19, 2024.
Judge Berkower is a native Washingtonian. Prior to her appointment, Judge Berkower spent most of her legal career as an attorney for the U.S. Government, focusing on civil and criminal civil rights cases. Most recently, she worked as an Assistant United States Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, serving in the Fraud, Public Corruption, and Civil Rights Section. In that position, she prosecuted numerous criminal civil rights cases, among other cases.
Before joining the United States Attorney’s Office, Judge Berkower worked in the Civil Rights Division at the United States Department of Justice, both in the Criminal Section, where she prosecuted criminal civil rights cases nationwide, and in the Voting Section, where she represented the United States in federal voting rights enforcement actions. Before joining the Department of Justice, Judge Berkower was an associate at Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello PC, in New York, NY.
Judge Berkower clerked for the Honorable Christopher F. Droney, United States District Judge for the District of Connecticut. She received her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from Fordham University School of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts in Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University.