The Honorable Juliet McKenna

Judge Juliet J. McKenna was appointed as an Associate Judge to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 2005. She graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University in 1992 and received her law degree from Yale Law School in 1995.

Following law school, Judge McKenna worked at Crowell & Moring. Inspired by her pro bono work at the law firm, she joined the Office of Corporation Counsel (now the Office of Attorney General) in 1996 as a trial attorney, prosecuting civil child abuse and neglect matters on behalf of the District of Columbia. In 1998, Judge McKenna began her work with Lawyers for Children America, a non-profit organization that trained and provided ongoing support to pro bono attorneys appointed as guardians ad litem on behalf of children in the abuse and neglect system. In 1999, she received the Arthur Liman Public Service Fellowship, awarded to Yale Law School graduates who demonstrate a commitment to serving the public interest through the law.

In April 2002, Judge McKenna was among the first five magistrate judges appointed to the Superior Court pursuant to the Family Court Act of 2001. Upon her appointment as an Associate Judge, she remained in the Family Court for six additional years, assigned to the Juvenile, Domestic Relations and Adoptions Calendars. From 2012 until 2021, she was assigned to the Criminal Division, handling a wide variety of cases, from misdemeanors to serious felony offenses, including first degree sexual assault and murder cases. She served as the Deputy Presiding Judge of the Criminal Division in 2018 and 2019 and as the Presiding Judge in 2020 and 2021. She is currently assigned to the Civil Division.

Judge McKenna has served on numerous D.C. Superior Court committees tasked with improving court procedures and practices, including the Family Court Implementation Committee, the Family Court Panels Committee (Chair 2009–12), the Judicial Education Committee, the Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules (co-Chair 2020–21) and the Superior Court Rules Committee, the Jury Management Committee and Criminal Division Jury Trial Workgroup, the Criminal Justice Act Panels Committee (co-Chair 2015–21), and the D.C. Sentencing Commission, as well as the Committee on Art Installation.

Judge McKenna served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown Law Center from 2012–2014, teaching a course on Child Welfare Law and Practice in the District of Columbia.