D.C. Superior Court Welcomes Two Associate Judges

D.C. Superior Court Welcomes Two Associate Judges

July 31, 2024

By John Murph

On July 29, D.C. Superior Court Chief Judge Anita Josey-Herring officiated the swearing-in of two new associate judges, Katherine Oler and Danny Nguyen, continuing efforts to remedy the District's judicial vacancy crisis.

"I know that the court has vacancy challenges still," Oler said after the ceremony. "It's so important that a group of us have been confirmed. I'm really looking forward to helping out in any way that I can and getting to work as soon as possible."

Oler previously served as special master for the U.S. Court of Federal Claims for six years, presiding over cases brought pursuant to the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. From 1996 to 2017 she was as an active duty judge advocate general (JAG) with the United States Air Force. During that time, she served as a first chair felony prosecutor, defense attorney, and deputy chief trial judge overseeing the programmatic guidance, policy development, and training for all U.S. Air Force military trial judges worldwide. From 2012 to 2014 she served as staff judge advocate in San Antonio, Texas, where she led a staff of 20 lawyers and paralegals and acted as chief criminal law advisor. In 2014 Oler began her three-year service as chief prosecutor and chief government appellate counsel, supervising all criminal appeals and all complex criminal prosecutions across the Air Force.

When asked about her judicial philosophy, Oler said, "It's important that when I go into the court every day, I treat people with dignity and respect. [D.C. residents] can expect that I'm going to be fair and impartial in all the decisions that I render."

Asked the same question, Nguyen said, "As a judge, I will commit myself every day to performing my duties with humility, integrity, and respect for others. I want everyone who appears before me to leave my courtroom feeling like they had a full and fair opportunity to be heard and that I've applied the law to the particulars of their case, neutrally and without bias."

Nguyen viewed his swearing-in as a homecoming of sorts - in 2004 he was a legal intern at D.C. Superior Court. Attending the ceremony with his family was D.C. District Court Senior Judge Reggie B. Walton, whom Nguyen praised as "a true mentor and father figure" throughout much of his career.

After the ceremony, Nguyen explained how his clerkship under Walton on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia will influence him as a judge. "The one thing that struck me about Judge Walton, when I was clerking for him, is the humility that he brought to the courthouse every single day," Nguyen said. "He always checked his ego at the door. All he ever cared about was getting to the right answer."

"As a young attorney, I was always so impressed that even if he and I had a difference of opinion, sometimes [Walton] would adopt what I had to say, even though I was much less experienced," Nguyen continued. "But if I made a valid point and was able to support that with case law and the applicable statutes, he would go with that recommendation because all he ever cared about was getting it right."

Nguyen worked at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP as counsel between 2011 and 2013 before becoming an assistant United States attorney for four years at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. In 2017 he joined the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division as a trial attorney. Beginning in 2021, Nguyen worked at Booz Allen Hamilton as associate general counsel for almost three years before becoming an associate judge.

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