Areas of Experience

Family law including child/spousal support, custody/visitation, and equitable distribution, medical malpractice, personal injury, premises liability, contracts, and professional liability.  Fluent in Spanish and proficient in Portuguese.

Professional Experience

• Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia, 1999-2023.
• Presiding Judge, Family Court, Superior Court of the District of Columbia, 2014-2016.
• Trial Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section, 1996-1999.
• Staff Attorney, Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, 1988-1996.

Affiliations

• U.S. Representative (one of three) to The International Hague Network of Judges, 2015-present.
• President, National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, 2021-2022; Immediate Past President, 2022-2023; Board of Directors, 2014-2023.
• Chairperson, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Collaborative, 2019-present.
• Chairperson, Judicial Education Committee, Superior Court of the District of Columbia, 2021-2023.
• Member, International Division, Mitigating Bias, and Countering Discrimination Training Development Program Advisory Committee, National Center for State Courts, 2022.
• Member, Board of Directors, Capital City Public Charter School, 2014-2016, 2020-present.
• Member, D.C. Courts Standing Committee on Fairness and Access to the Courts, 2004-2023.
• Member, Dean’s Diversity Council, American University, Washington College of Law, 2010-2016.
• Recipient, NCJFCJ President’s Award for Extraordinary Leadership, 2021.
• Recipient, National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Equity Award, 2021.
• Recipient, Council on Legal Education Opportunity Diversity Award, 2018.
• Recipient, D.C. Bar Family Law Section Leadership Award, 2015.
• Recipient, Hispanic National Bar Foundation Judicial Leadership Award, 2014.
• Recipient, Hispanic Bar Association of the District of Columbia Honorable Ricardo M. Urbina Lifetime Achievement Award, 2011.
• Instructor of legal education projects in Central America, South America, Puerto Rico, Spain, and the Federated States of Micronesia.
• Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University Law Center, American Law for Foreign-Trained Lawyers LLM Program, 2018-present.
• Former Instructor, American University, Washington College of Law; University of the District of Columbia School of Law; George Washington University Law School; National Judicial College Pacific Islands Law Institute; University of Puerto Rico Law School.

Education

• University of Wisconsin, J.D.
• University of Wisconsin – Madison, B.S.