Fern Flanagan Saddler, formerly a Magistrate Judge with the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, was sworn in as an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on September 12, 2003. Chief Judge Rufus G. King, III presided. The Honorable Norma Holloway Johnson, Senior Judge, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, administered the oath of office.

Judge Saddler, the daughter of the late Thomas Earl Flanagan, Sr. and the late Marjorie Brooks Flanagan, was born on May 17, 1955, in Baltimore, Maryland. After graduating from Western High School in Baltimore, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976 from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

After college, Judge Saddler attended Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC where she received her Juris Doctor degree in 1979. Subsequently, she was admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia and Maryland. Upon graduation from law school, Judge Saddler was an attorney at the general practice law firm of Mitchell, Shorter and Gartrell where she was involved in trial and appellate work in local and federal courts in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.

In 1984, Judge Saddler became an Assistant Bar Counsel for the District of Columbia Office of Bar Counsel where she investigated and prosecuted complaints of attorney misconduct. In 1988, Judge Saddler served as a Senior Staff Attorney for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals where she supervised staff attorneys and law clerks. From July 1990 through January 1991 she was the Acting Chief Deputy Clerk of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Since 1991, Judge Saddler has served as a Magistrate Judge (formerly known as Hearing Commissioner) of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia where she has presided over thousands of matters in the Criminal, Civil, and Family Divisions of the Court.

Throughout her professional career, Judge Saddler has been active in many bar associations, and numerous professional and community organizations including the Washington Bar Association, the Women’s Bar Association; the National Association of Women Judges, the Greater Washington Area Chapter, Women’s Lawyers Division, National Bar Association (GWAC); the Charlotte E. Ray American Inn of Court; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; the National Council of Negro Women; and the South Manor Neighborhood Association. Judge Saddler has been a member of Plymouth Congregational Church in Washington, DC since 1987.

Judge Saddler is married to Reverend Paul Harvey Saddler, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. He is the executive Minister of Shaw Community Ministry, Inc. in Washington, DC