The Honorable Charles J. Willoughby

Charles J. Willoughby, Jr. was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to be an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on June 28, 2023. His nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 10, 2024.

Judge Willoughby, a native Washingtonian, attended and graduated from Sidwell Friends School and subsequently obtained two Bachelor of Arts degrees – first from Morehouse College and then from Belmont University. Judge Willoughby received his Juris Doctor from the Howard University School of Law in 2007.

Following his graduation from law school, Judge Willoughby was employed as an Assistant Attorney General at the Virgin Islands Department of Justice, handling firearms, narcotics, domestic violence and homicide cases. Judge Willoughby then worked as an associate at a law firm in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, with a concentration on general civil litigation and premises liability matters, while also serving on the Criminal Justice Act Panel, representing indigent defendants in criminal cases.

In 2014, Judge Willoughby was sworn in as an Assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. At the time he was appointed to the bench, Judge Willoughby was serving as a Deputy Chief in the Major Crimes Section of the Superior Court Division. In this role, he supervised numerous prosecutors during the investigation and prosecution of violent crime cases.

Prior to becoming a supervisor, Judge Willoughby prosecuted violent crime matters in Superior Court and cybercrime matters in District Court. During his tenure as an Assistant United States Attorney, Judge Willoughby was awarded multiple United States Attorney’s Special Achievement Awards. In 2021, he was an inaugural recipient of the Assistant United States Attorney’s Association Patricia J. Smoot Award, recognizing his leadership, commitment to inclusion, and passion for the ethical pursuit of justice.