Patricia McGowan Wald

The Honorable Patricia Wald served for twenty years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, from 1979-1999, including five years as Chief Judge. Since that time she has served in various capacities including as a Judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and a Member on the President’s Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the U.S. Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction. Prior to serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District Court of Columbia, Judge Wald was the Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs at the Department of Justice. She also previously served as an attorney with the Mental Health Law Project, an attorney with the Center for Law and Social Policy, co-director of the Ford Foundation Drug Abuse Research Project, an attorney with the Neighborhood Legal Services Program, and an attorney with the Office of Criminal Justice at the Department of Justice. She is a member of the American Law Institute. Judge Wald is also a member of the American Philosophical Society, and serves on the Open Society Institute’s Justice Initiative Board, including two years as chair (2002-2004). Judge Wald clerked for the Honorable Jerome Frank on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and received her B.A. from the Connecticut College for Women and her J.D. from Yale Law School. On November 20, 2013, Wald was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.