Honorable José M. López was appointed to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1990 by President George H. Bush. Judge Lopez’ trial experience includes Civil, Criminal and Family Matters. Currently, he is the Presiding Judge of the Domestic Violence Division.

Judge López was born in the Dominican Republic and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He received his Bachelor of Arts from Middlebury College in Vermont in 1973 and a law degree from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, Massachusetts in 1977. While in law school, he served as Associate Editor of the Law Review, Vice President of the Hispanic American Law Student Association, and President of the Black American Law Students Association.

Judge López began his legal career as an Attorney Advisor to the Benefits Review Board of the U.S. Department of Labor. Prior to taking the bench, he was in private practice, a member of the D.C. Traffic Adjudication Appeals Board, and member of the D.C. Board of Appeals and Review.

For nearly seven years, Judge López chaired the Superior Court Judicial Education Committee. He is currently a member of the Superior Court Rules Committee. He has been a faculty member at the National Judicial College located in Reno, Nevada and board member at the Leadership Institute in Judicial Education, at the University of Memphis. He is past president and co-founder of the Charlotte E. Ray American Inn of Court. Judge López received the 1997 Award for Judicial Excellence, presented by the American Bar Association National Conference of State Trial Judges.