Judge Bios

In July 2015, President Barack Obama nominated Darlene M. Soltys for appointment to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The Senate confirmed her nomination as Associate Judge on December 17, 2015.

Darlene M. Soltys was born in Bellingham, Washington, and grew up in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. She graduated from Glen Burnie High School in 1983. She graduated with honors from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she majored in Political Science and History.

While in college, she interned for Judge Paul Alpert of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals and served as the chief judge of the school’s Judicial Board. In 1990, she received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center (GULC). At GULC, she participated in the Criminal Justice Clinic, representing indigent people charged in the Superior Court.

Following law school, Judge Soltys served as the first law clerk to the Honorable Gregory E. Mize. She was thereafter appointed as an Assistant Corporation Counsel and tried criminal cases brought against juvenile respondents in the Superior Court.

Judge Soltys then served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Prince Georges County, Maryland, where she spent two years in the Child Abuse and Sexual Assault Section and five years in the Homicide Section.

In 2004, Judge Soltys joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. During her tenure there, Judge Soltys served primarily in the Violent Crimes and Narcotics Trafficking Section of the Criminal Division. Judge Soltys participated in long-term investigations using wire tap authorizations and other forms of electronic surveillance to infiltrate gangs and drug trafficking organizations alongside members of the FBI/MPD Safe Streets Task Force. For eleven years, she prosecuted multiple co-defendant cases in federal district court for charges including narcotics conspiracies, RICO conspiracies, homicides and firearm related offenses.

Judge Soltys is a recipient of the Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney. She was named Senior Litigation Counsel in 2013 and has received numerous special achievement awards from the United States Attorney’s Office. Judge Soltys also collaborated with visiting foreign prosecutors and jurists and lectured at area law schools on matters pertaining to gang prosecutions and the use of electronic surveillance.

Who: Chief Judge Lee Satterfield, Oath of Office
What: Invesituture of Judge Darlene M. Soltys
Where: Moultrie Courthouse Third Floor Atrium, 500 Indiana Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
When: Friday, March 18, 2016 at 4pm