Judge Bios

James A. Crowell IV (“Jim”) was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.  He 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, providing executive assistance and supervision for the United States Attorneys offices, including legal education, administrative oversight, technical support, security, policy, and regulation.  In this role, Judge Crowell managed a 900 person staff and a $2 billion annual budget in support of more than 10,000 United States Attorney employees in 93 United States Attorneys’ offices located throughout the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Marianas Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U. S. Virgin Islands.

Prior to serving as Director, Judge Crowell served in a number of senior positions in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, including Associate Deputy Attorney General, and Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General.  In these roles, Judge Crowell supervised all day-to-day operations of the Office of Deputy Attorney General, including management of attorneys and administrative staff, and oversaw sensitive criminal and disciplinary matters, including recusals of U.S. Attorneys and their offices, professional responsibility and ethics issues, courtroom closure requests, and adverse DOJ personnel actions.

Prior to these positions, Judge Crowell served as a federal prosecutor, handling national security, fraud, corruption, violent crime, and narcotics cases.  Judge Crowell was an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Maryland, where he held numerous supervisory positions, including Branch Chief and 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 in the United States Army Reserves for 25 years in the Infantry, Civil Affairs, and Judge Advocate General Corps.  As a Judge Advocate, Judge Crowell served as Senior Trial Defense Counsel for eight years representing soldiers at general and special courts-martial, pretrial investigations and advising soldiers that are being confined prior to their trial. Judge Crowell counseled Soldiers pending summary courts-martial charges, facing formal non-judicial punishment under Article 15, and represented Soldiers at lineups and for administrative separations.  He currently serves as a Civil Affairs officer assigned to the 352nd Civil Affairs Command (Airborne).

Judge Crowell has been a resident of the District of Columbia for 17 years.  He is married to Michaeleen Crowell.  They are the proud parents of two children.

The Investiture of Judge James Crowell will be held today, January 31, 2020 at 3:30 p.m. in the Third Floor Atrium of the Moultrie Courthouse.