{{short description|American judge}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Catharine Easterly | image = Catharine F. Easterly.jpg | office = Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals | appointer = Barack Obama | term_start = February 10, 2012 | term_end = | predecessor = Noël A. Kramer | successor = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1970|12|18}} | birth_name = Catharine Friend Easterly | birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | relatives = Harry Easterly (grandfather) | caption = Easterly in 2011 | education = Yale University (BA)<br>University of Virginia (JD) }} '''Catharine Friend Easterly''' (born December 18, 1970)<ref name=testimony>[https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-112shrg72483/pdf/CHRG-112shrg72483.pdf Testimony of Catharine Easterly, nominee for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals]</ref> is an associate judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the highest appellate court for the District of Columbia.<ref>[https://jnc.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/jnc/publication/attachments/Record-JNC-Recs-Desigs-Oct13.pdf Report of District of Columbia Judicial Nomination Commission], jnc.dc.gov. Accessed March 20, 2024.</ref>
== Biography == === Early life === Easterly was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Harry and Patsy Easterly, and raised in Richmond, Virginia, where she graduated from St. Catherine's School.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dccourts.gov/internet/documents/DCCA_Bio_Easterly.pdf |title=Official bio of Catharine F. Easterly |access-date=2017-06-28 |archive-date=2017-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228171907/http://dccourts.gov/internet/documents/DCCA_Bio_Easterly.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> She majored in history at Yale College, graduating in 1992, and received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1996.
== Career == During her law school summers Easterly worked at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. After law school, Easterly worked as an appellate public defender in New York for four and a half years, first at the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County and then at the Office of the Appellate Defender in New York City.<ref name=testimony/>
From 2001 to 2003, Easterly practiced civil and criminal litigation at a law firm in New York and then as a solo practitioner in Washington, D.C. During this period her clients included the Metropolitan Opera.<ref name=testimony/> In April 2003, she returned to D.C.'s Public Defender Service, where she worked in the Special Litigation Division until she was appointed to the bench. In that role she litigated civil and criminal cases, wrote amicus briefs, and testified before the Council of the District of Columbia.{{cn|date=March 2024}}
Easterly was nominated for the D.C. Court of Appeals by President Barack Obama on August 2, 2011,<ref>[https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/08/02/president-obama-nominates-catherine-friend-easterly-district-columbia-co President Obama Nominates Catherine Friend Easterly for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals], obamawhitehouse.archives.gov. Accessed March 20, 2024.</ref> and confirmed by the Senate on November 18, 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://melcherlaw.com/archives/2353 |title=U.S. Senate Confirms Nominations of Corinne A. Beckwith and Catharine F. Easterly to Court of Appeals |access-date=2017-06-28 |archive-date=2017-04-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170412181554/http://melcherlaw.com/archives/2353 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Portal|Biography}} *[http://www.dccourts.gov/internet/documents/DCCA_Bio_Easterly.pdf Official bio of Judge Easterly] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228171907/http://dccourts.gov/internet/documents/DCCA_Bio_Easterly.pdf |date=2017-02-28 }}
{{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=Noël A. Kramer}} {{s-ttl|title=Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals|years=2011–present}} {{s-inc}} {{s-end}}
{{District of Columbia political officials}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Easterly, Catharine F.}} Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:20th-century American women lawyers Category:21st-century American judges Category:21st-century American women judges Category:21st-century American lawyers Category:Judges of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals Category:Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Category:Lawyers from Boston Category:Public defenders Category:University of Virginia School of Law alumni Category:Yale College alumni Category:St. Catherine's School alumni