Judge Bios

Josey-Herring was born in Portsmouth, Virginia and raised in the Tidewater Area. She has been a resident of the District of Columbia for more than 10 years. She received her B.A. degree from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia in 1983, and her Juris Doctorate in 1987 from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.

While attending Georgetown Law Center’s Evening Division, Josey-Herring was a member of the Legal Ethics Law Journal and was employed full-time as a paralegal specialist at the United States Department of Labor from 1984 to 1985. In that capacity she reviewed complaints filed by Department of Labor employees concerning disparate treatment in the work place, and made recommendations for handling those cases.

Between 1985 and 1987, Josey-Herring worked as a law clerk in the United States Department of Energy Solicitor’s Office and investigated violations of Department of Energy regulations by oil companies falsely claiming small refiner entitlement bias benefits.

Upon graduating from Georgetown in 1987, she obtained a judicial clerkship position with The Honorable Herbert B. Dixon, Jr. of the Superior Court. In that capacity, she worked on a variety of civil law issues including family law, contract disputes, and landlord and tenant issues.

In 1988, Josey-Herring joined the District of Columbia Public Defender Service as a staff attorney. While in the trial division she handled a heavy caseload and litigated juvenile, misdemeanor and felony cases in the Superior Court and supervised less senior staff attorneys. She also served in the Public Defender Service’s appellate division arguing cases before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

In 1994, while handling serious felonies and homicide cases, Josey-Herring was appointed by the Board of Trustees of the Public Defender Service to the position of Deputy Director of the agency. As Deputy Director, Josey-Herring assisted the Director in all aspects of management and administration of the Public Defender Service, including budgetary decision making and supervision of agency staff. She also directly supervised the Investigations Divisions, The Prisoner Rights Program and the Criminal Justice Act Office, which is responsible for coordinating the appointment of counsel in all criminal cases in the District of Columbia.

In addition, she administered the agency’s grand funded programs and coordinated the attorney and law clerk hiring programs. She also monitored the agency’s personnel policies for compliance with personnel law and handled personnel matters along with the Director. Additionally, she testified before the District of Columbia City Council on proposed criminal law legislation and other selected matters.

Josey-Herring also served as Acting Director of the Public Defender Service for several months in 1997 and was responsible for managing and administering the affairs of the agency and all of its staff and divisions.

Over the last several years, Josey-Herring has been a guest lecturer at Howard Law School, Georgetown Law Center, the Columbus School of Law, and the Washington College of Law at The American University. She was a faculty member at Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop in 1995, 1996 and 1997. She was also a faculty member at the National Legal Aid and Defender Training Conference in 1994 and the NITA Trial Advocacy Conference at Georgetown Law Center in 1997. She also lectured and provided training to local criminal law practitioners on various criminal topics at the Criminal Practice Institute.

Josey-Herring is a member of several Bars, including the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, the District of Columbia Bar, the Washington Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association, the National Bar Association, and the Greater Washington Area Women’s Division of the National Bar. She has participated in many community activities, among them, tutoring fourth and fifth grade girls at Malcolm X Elementary School in Southeast Washington, D.C. In 1994, she served on the Superior Court’s Task Force on Law School, Georgetown Law Center, the Columbus School of Law, and the Washington College of Law at The American University. She was a faculty member at Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop in 1995, 1996 and 1997. She was also a faculty member at the National Legal Aid and Defender Training Conference in 1994 and the NITA Trial Advocacy Conference at Georgetown Law Center in 1997. She also lectured and provided training to local criminal law practitioners on various criminal topics at the Criminal Practice Institute.