Judge Juliet McKenna was appointed to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 2005 by President George W. Bush.
Judge McKenna was born in Valparaiso, Indiana and raised in Connecticut. She has lived in Washington, DC for over ten years. Ms. McKenna graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University in 1992 and received her law degree from Yale Law School in 1995.
After law school, Ms. McKenna joined the law firm of Crowell & Moring. The following year, she became a trial attorney with the Office of Corporation Counsel (now the Office of the Attorney General), prosecuting civil child abuse and neglect matters on behalf of the District of Columbia. During her two years with the office, Judge McKenna handled hundreds of child protection cases.
In 1998, Judge McKenna began her work with Lawyers for Children America, a non-profit organization that trains and provides ongoing support to pro bono attorneys appointed as guardians ad litem on behalf of children in the abuse and neglect system.
After serving as a Program Director for two and a half years, Judge McKenna became the National Executive Director of the organization in March 2001. During her tenure, Judge McKenna represented numerous children in abuse and neglect matters and assisted in developing an evaluation to assess positive outcomes achieved for children.
Judge McKenna was among the first five magistrate judges appointed in April 2002 to the Superior Court pursuant to the Family Court Act of 2001. In that capacity, she presided primarily over child abuse and neglect matters, as well as numerous related adoption, custody, juvenile, and domestic violence proceedings. Judge McKenna also developed and implemented the Family Court Benchmark Permanency Hearing Pilot Program, an effort to ensure that individual youth are more fully prepared and supported in the transition from foster care to adulthood.
Judge McKenna has served as a member of numerous D.C. Superior Court committees tasked with improving court procedures and practices in the area of family law, including the D.C. Superior Court’s Family Court Implementation Committee, the Family Court Panels Committee, and the Advisory Rules and Practice Standards Committee. In 2001, she was elected to a three-year term on the D.C. Bar Family Law Section Steering Committee. Judge McKenna also has organized and participated in multiple training seminars on topics pertaining to child welfare law and best practices.
Judge McKenna received the Arthur Liman Public Service Fellowship in 1999, an award to Yale Law School graduates who demonstrate a commitment to serving the public interest through the law. In 2001, the Bar Association of the District of Columbia presented Judge McKenna with an Unsung Hero of the Law Award for her work on behalf of abused and neglected children.