Robert Okun began his legal career as a Superior Court law clerk 
 
WHAT: Investiture of Robert Okun 
 
WHEN: Friday, November 8 at 4:00 pm

WHERE: Moultrie Courthouse – Atrium  500 Indiana Avenue, NW, DC 
 
WHO:  DC Court of Appeals Senior Judge Frank E. Schwelb, oath of office; Assistant US Attorney Anthony Quinn and PDS Counsel Laura Hankins, remarks 
 
Biography:

Judge Okun was born in Great Neck, New York, and raised in Old Bethpage, New York.  Judge Okun received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1981, and received his Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1984.

Following his graduation from law school, Judge Okun was a law clerk for Judge Schwelb, then an Associate Judge of the DC Superior Court.  From 1985 to 1987, Judge Okun was an attorney at the Federal Trade Commission, serving in the Office of Policy and Evaluation for the Bureau of Consumer Protection, where he oversaw investigations and litigation concerning false and deceptive trade practices.  From 1987 to 1989, Judge Okun served as a trial attorney for the Fraud Section of the Civil Division of the US Department of Justice, where he prosecuted fraud committed against the federal government.

Judge Okun joined the DC US Attorney’s Office in 1989, where he prosecuted a wide variety of felony and misdemeanor cases in both DC Superior Court and the US District Court for DC.  Judge Okun left the US Attorney’s Office in 1992 to become a freelance writer (having previously written an episode for the television show “Family Ties”), but returned to the practice of law approximately a year later when he joined the Office of Consumer Litigation of the Civil Division of the US Department of Justice.

In 1997, Judge Okun returned to the DC US Attorney’s Office, and shortly thereafter became chief of the Special Proceedings Division, where, for approximately 15 years, he supervised the division that responds to all post-conviction motions filed in Superior Court and US District Court.  During his tenure at the US Attorney’s Office, Judge Okun also served as the Executive Assistant US Attorney for Operations, where he helped oversee the Office’s litigating divisions and victim-witness unit, and as Special Counsel to the US Attorney for Professional Development and Legal Policy, where he oversaw the Office’s professional development program and represented the Office on numerous court and criminal justice committees.  Judge Okun served as one of the Office’s ethics and professional responsibility officers for many years, advising Assistant US Attorneys on ethical issues and questions involving the Rules of Professional Conduct.  

During his tenure at the Department of Justice and the US Attorney’s Office, Judge Okun received numerous awards, including the John Marshall Award for Providing Legal Advice, for his efforts in providing guidance concerning the retroactive changes to the crack cocaine sentencing guidelines used in federal court.  

Judge Okun has been a member of many court committees, including the Superior Court Criminal Rules Advisory Committee, Pre-trial Mental Examination Committee, Ad Hoc Committee to Consider Formation of a Criminal Justice Reform Commission, and the US District Court Advisory Committee on Pro Se Litigation.  Judge Okun also has been an active member of the DC Bar, serving on the Board of Governors, as the Chair of the Judicial Evaluation Committee, and as a member of the Rules of Professional Conduct Review Committee.  Judge Okun also served, for several years, as the chair of a hearing committee for the Board on Professional Responsibility, where he presided over hearings involving alleged attorney misconduct.  

Judge Okun has taught classes on white-collar crime and legal reasoning at American University and, for more than a decade, taught classes on civic responsibility to fifth-grade students at several District of Columbia public schools.  In addition, Judge Okun is a member of the Runnymede Singers, a singing group that performs at nursing homes and churches in Washington, D.C.