Beryl Howell is a federal judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Confirmed in December 2010, she previously served in law enforcement, and in public and private practice as an attorney, as counsel to Congressional committees, and as recording industry lobbyist.
Judge Howell began her legal career clerking for Judge Dickinson Debevoise in the District Court of New Jersey. She was then in private practice as an associate at the New York law firm of Schulte Roth & Zabel.
Later, she worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of New York, where she became Deputy Chief of the Narcotics Section. She then served on the staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary as a senior advisor to chairman Patrick Leahy, including as the committee’s general counsel.
Judge Howell was involved in national security issues, including the creation of the USA Patriot Act. She served as a member of the Commission on Cybersecurity in 2008, sponsored by the bipartisan think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies. She also teaches legal ethics as an adjunct professor at the American University’s Washington College of Law.
EDUCATION: Bryn Mawr College, B.A.; Columbia University School of Law, J.D.