Judge Bios

Leonard Braman was born August 21, 1925, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Upon graduation from West Philadelphia High School in 1943, he enlisted in the Army and served until 1945 when he was discharged as a Flight Officer, Air Corps (Bombardier).

He resumed his education at Temple University (B.S. 1949) and then studied law at the University of Virginia (LL.B. 1952) where he was student assistant to Dean Ribble , a member of the Board of Editors for the University of Virginia Law Review; he was also awarded the Order of Coif.

Mr. Braman’s first year of legal practice was in 1952; he was a law clerk to Judge E. Barrett Prettyman, Sr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In 1953, Mr. Braman was appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, a position he held until 1954 when he was awarded a Bigelow Teaching Fellowship at the University of Chicago Law School. He returned to the District in 1955 and became associated with the law firm of Newmyer and Bress. This association lasted until 1961 when he joined the firm of David G. Bress, later to be known as Bress, Braman, and Hilmer. When Mr. Bress was appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia in 1965, the firm dissolved, and Mr. Braman became a partner in the law firm of Surrey, Karasik, Greene and Hill, where he was head of the Litigation Department. He remained in that position until the time of his present appointment.

Mr. Braman is a member of the American and D.C. Bar Associations and on two occasions has served as parliamentarian of Administrative Law Conferences convened by Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy.

Mr. Braman, his wife Joyce, and their two sons reside in Silver Spring, Maryland.