Honorable William M. Jackson is Presiding Judge of the Family Court of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was appointed to the bench as an associate judge in June of 1992 by President George H. Bush.  Since his appointment to the bench, Judge Jackson has served in a number of divisions of the Superior Court including the Criminal Division, the Civil Division, the Domestic Violence Unit and Family. He has also served as the Presiding Judge of the Domestic Violence Unit.

Judge Jackson’s first assignment as an associate judge was in the Family Division in 1992.  He presided over juvenile delinquency cases, abuse and neglect cases, paternity and support cases, and mental health hearings. During this assignment, he presided full time over a juvenile delinquency calendar and later an abuse and neglect calendar. From January 2002 through December 2005, Judge Jackson served in the Domestic Violence Unit. While assigned to the Domestic Violence Unit, he presided over thousands of cases involving individuals, families, and children who were victims of domestic violence. He also handled child custody, divorce, and paternity and support cases where there were allegations of domestic violence.

Prior to joining the bench, Judge Jackson served as a staff attorney in the Anti-trust Division of the Department of Justice. He later joined the United States Attorney’s Office where he served as a trial attorney in all sections of the Superior Court Division and served as Chief of the Misdemeanor Trial Section, Deputy Chief of the Felony Trial Division, Chief of the Chronic Offender Unit and the first Chief of Homicide. Judge Jackson is a graduate of Brown University and the Harvard Law School. He is a frequent lecturer with the American Bar Association Civil Custody Institute and teaches at the Harvard Law Trial Practice Institute and the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA). He serves on the Board of the Woodstock Theological Institute, a think tank at Georgetown University. He also serves on the Board of Operation Understanding D.C. and is a member of the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence.