The Honorable James Crowell

James A. Crowell IV received a Bachelor of Arts in History and French from Hampden-Sydney College and his Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law. Following law school, Judge Crowell clerked for the Honorable Charles A. Pannell, Jr., of the United States District Court, Northern District of Georgia. After his clerkship, Judge Crowell joined the Department of Justice through the Attorney General’s Honors Program.

Prior to his appointment as an associate judge, Judge Crowell served as the director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (Career SES). In this role, Judge Crowell managed a 900 person staff and a $2 billion annual budget in support of more than 10,000 U.S. Attorney employees in the U.S. Attorneys’ offices located throughout the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Marianas Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U. S. Virgin Islands.

Before serving as director, Judge Crowell served in several senior positions in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, including acting principal associate deputy attorney general, associate deputy attorney general, and chief of staff to the deputy attorney general. In these roles, Judge Crowell served as the principal counselor to the department’s second highest official, the deputy attorney general. In that role, Judge Crowell helped manage 113,000 attorneys, agents, investigators, and administrators, 93 U.S. Attorney offices, and all DOJ law enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Agency, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Marshals Service, and the Bureau of Prisons.

Judge Crowell also liaised regularly on behalf of the Justice Department with the White House, Congressional committees, and federal intelligence, enforcement, and regulatory agencies.

Judge Crowell also served as the director of the Office of the Rule of Law, where he oversaw the Justice Department's rule of law program in foreign conflict zones, working extensively abroad to establish legal systems in Iraq and Afghanistan in coordination with the Chief of Mission/U.S. Ambassador at U.S. Embassies in Western Europe, North Africa, and Middle East in furtherance of U.S. policy goals promoting rule of law abroad.

Before these positions, Judge Crowell served as a career federal prosecutor, handling national security, fraud, public corruption, violent crime, and narcotics cases. Judge Crowell was an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of Maryland, where he held numerous supervisory positions, including criminal chief. Judge Crowell also served as a trial attorney in DOJ’s Criminal Division, Public Integrity Section, and DOJ’s Antitrust Division.

Judge Crowell has served on the court's Standing Committee on Strategic Planning Leadership Council; Committee on Selection and Tenure of Magistrate Judges; Committee on Jury Instructions (Civil and Criminal); Committee on Family Court Bench Books; Advisory Committee on Family Court Rules; Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules; Committee on Juvenile Proceedings; Committee on Family Court Attorney Panels; Committee on Security; Committee on Criminal Justice Act (CJA) Vouchers; and been assigned to the Court’s Criminal and Family Divisions.

During his tenure at the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Judge Crowell received numerous awards, including the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award for prosecution of public corruption cases in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Assistant Attorney General’s Award for Ensuring the Integrity of Government for the prosecution of a Member of Congress and their staff.

Judge Crowell has served in the U.S. Army Reserves for 30 years in the Infantry, Civil Affairs, Military Police, Judge Advocate General Corps, and Information Operations. He currently serves the Commander 301st Information Operations Battalion at Fort Meade, Md.

Judge Crowell has taught a variety of courses related to public corruption, white-collar fraud investigations, 4th Amendment law and practice, national security law, election law, sentencing guidelines, and related topics at numerous colleges/universities and intelligence/law enforcement agency training facilities. He has published articles/law reviews on various topics, including sentencing models, advisory sentencing guidelines, government investigations, bankruptcy law, and energy law.

Judge Crowell has been a resident of the District of Columbia for 23 years. He is married and has two children.