Family Court of the District of Columbia Superior Court

Judges' Bios

Chief Judge Anita Josey-Herring | Judge Jennifer Di Toro | Judge Darlene Soltys |Judge Adrienne Jennings Noti | Judge Noel Johnson |

Speaker Bios

Antonio Coe-Redd | Angelisa D.Young | Michael Stevenson | Amee Vora | Dana Rubin |

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Honorable Chief Judge Anita Josey-Herring, President William Clinton appointed the Honorable Anita Josey-Herring to the bench in November 1997. As an Associate Judge, she served in the court's Family, Civil and Criminal Divisions. In 2000, Judge Josey-Herring was appointed by the Chief Judge to serve as the Deputy Presiding Judge of the Family Court and later served as the Presiding Judge of the Family Court from 2006 through 2008. Chief Judge Josey-Herring is a 1987 graduate of Georgetown University Law Center. While attending Georgetown as an evening division student, she was a Legal Ethics Law Journal member. She was employed full-time in various legal support positions. Chief Judge Josey-Herring obtained a judicial clerkship position with the Honorable Herbert B. Dixon, Jr. in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. As a judicial clerk, she worked on various civil issues, including family law, contract disputes, and landlord and tenant issues. In 1988, Chief Judge Josey-Herring joined the District of Columbia Public Defender Service as a staff attorney. While in the trial division, she handled a heavy caseload, litigated juvenile, misdemeanor, and felony cases in the Superior Court, and supervised staff attorneys. She also served in the Public Defender Service's appellate division, arguing cases before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. In 1994, while handling serious felonies and homicide cases, Chief Judge Josey-Herring was appointed by the Board of Trustees of the Public Defender Service to the position of Deputy Director of the agency. As Deputy Director, Chief Judge Josey-Herring assisted the Director in all aspects of management and administration, including budgetary decision-making and supervision of agency staff. She also directly supervised the Investigations Divisions, the Prisoner Rights Program, and the Criminal Justice Act Office. She was responsible for coordinating the appointment of counsel in all criminal cases in the District of Columbia. In addition, she administered the agency's grant-funded programs and coordinated the attorney and law clerk hiring programs. She also monitored the agency's personnel policies to comply with personnel law and handled personnel matters with the Director. In addition, she testified before the District of Columbia City Council on proposed criminal law legislation and other issues. During her service in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Chief Judge Josey-Herring has led numerous initiatives to improve the quality of justice and kindness to litigants and attorneys alike. She led the highly regarded Family Treatment Court Initiative that provides drug treatment and social services to mothers charged with neglecting their children due to substance abuse. Additionally, Chief Judge Josey-Herring presided over the Family Treatment Court calendar from its inception. She also collaborated with District agencies to deliver services to parents and children in the neglected system. She also presided over the Juvenile Drug Court before establishing the Family Treatment Court. Chief Judge Josey-Herring played a significant role in the development and implementation of the D.C. Family Court. In her role as Deputy Presiding and later Presiding Judge of Family Court, she implemented numerous programs to improve the quality of justice provided to District families.

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Judge Jennifer Di Toro was nominated by President Barack Obama in February 2011 and confirmed by the Senate in September 2011. Judge Di Toro holds a Bachelor's Degree from Wesleyan University, a Master's Degree from The University of Oxford, and a Master's in Advocacy from Georgetown University Law Center. Following graduation from Stanford Law School, she received an E. Barrett Prettyman Fellowship to work in the Georgetown University Law Center's Criminal Justice Clinic. There Judge Di Toro represented low-income residents of the District of Columbia in the D.C. Superior Court. She also supervised law students handling misdemeanor cases. After completing her Fellowship, Judge Di Toro joined the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia as a staff attorney. There she managed misdemeanor and felony cases. Judge Di Toro also worked in the Special Litigation Division and assisted in preparing impact litigation suits. She also worked in the General Counsel's Office, handling ethics and conflict inquiries. Judge Di Toro has also been in private practice as an associate at Zuckerman Spaeder LLP law firm. There, she participated in white-collar criminal defense and complex civil litigation. She provided direct representation to clients in D.C. Superior Court. Judge Di Toro has worked in government, private practice, and legal services during her fifteen years of practice. She joined the Superior Court for the District of Columbia from The District of Columbia's Children's Law Center, serving seven years as the organization's Legal Director. At The Children's Law Center, Judge Di Toro oversaw the work of nearly fifty lawyers engaged in all aspects of litigation involving children and families in the District of Columbia. Judge Di Toro was responsible for hiring, training, and supervising attorneys and supervisors assisting families seeking custody, guardianship, adoption, access to health care, and special education services for needy children and families. Judge Di Toro established supervision standards, training, litigation protocols, and program expansion and innovation with other Center members' management team members. Throughout her career, Judge Di Toro has been an active member of the legal profession. She has trained law students and attorneys in legal services and private practice through the Washington Council of Lawyers, Georgetown University Law Center, and the Harvard Law School.

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Judge Darlene Soltys, In July 2015, President Barack Obama nominated Darlene M. Soltys for appointment to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The Senate confirmed her nomination as Associate Judge on December 17, 2015. Judge Soltys grew up in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. She graduated with honors from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, majoring in Political Science and History, and received her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center (GULC). At GULC, she participated in the Criminal Justice Clinic, representing indigent people charged in the Superior Court. Judge Soltys served as the first law clerk to the Honorable Gregory E. Mize. She worked for the then-Office of Corporation Counsel, trying cases against juvenile respondents. Judge Soltys served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Prince Georges County, Maryland, in the Child Abuse and Sexual Assault Section and later in the Homicide Section. In 2004, Judge Soltys joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. During her tenure there, Judge Soltys served primarily in the Violent Crimes and Narcotics Trafficking Section of the Criminal Division, trying cases in federal District Court. Judge Soltys participated in long[1] term investigations using wiretap authorizations and other forms of electronic surveillance to infiltrate violent gangs and drug trafficking organizations alongside members of the FBI/MPD Safe Streets Task Force. Judge Soltys is a recipient of the Director’s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney. She was named Senior Litigation Counsel in 2013 and received numerous special achievement awards from USAO-DC. Judge Soltys also collaborated with visiting foreign prosecutors and jurists and lectured at area law schools on gang prosecutions and electronic surveillance. Her first judicial assignment was in the Probate/Tax Division. Since 2019, she has served in Family Court, first in the Domestic Relations Branch handling divorce and custody cases, and now as Deputy Presiding Judge.

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Judge Adrienne Jennings Noti was sworn in as a Magistrate Judge on the District of Columbia Superior Court in 2014. Judge Noti has served in all divisions of the Superior Court. Before her appointment, Judge Noti worked at the Office of Child Support Enforcement and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she developed and implemented a federal child support policy. Previously, Judge Noti practiced family law for ten years. She served as a Managing Attorney at the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program, coordinating the Advocacy and Justice Clinic. From 2002 – 2010, Judge Noti was a clinical law professor. As a Practitioner-in-Residence at American University’s Washington College of Law, she supervised the representation of low-income clients in family law cases in the Superior Court. Before that, at Rutgers School of Law – Newark, she led a law clinic and pro bono project. Judge Noti was previously a staff attorney with the Safe Horizon Domestic Violence Law Project in New York City. Judge Noti has taught as an adjunct professor at the New York University School of Social Work, Rutgers University - Newark, American University’s Washington College of Law, and Georgetown University Law Center. Judge Noti is a native Washingtonian and graduate of D.C. public schools. Judge Noti received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Juris Doctorate, magna cum laude, from the Georgetown University Law Center. Following law school, she clerked for the Honorable Carol Bagley Amon on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

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Honorable Noel Johnson was appointed Magistrate Judge by Chief Judge Rufus G. King III on April 6, 2002. Judge Johnson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, until age nine. His family then relocated to Washington, D.C., where his father transitioned from teaching university mathematics and physics to computerized ship design with the federal Maritime Administration. His mother, a native of Baltimore, spent her considerable energies caring for their four children. After graduating from the Catholic University of America, Judge Johnson worked as a studio cameraman for local television station WDCA-TV in Bethesda, Maryland. He later attended the Tulane University School of Law and received his J.D. in 1985. While in law school, he clerked for a federal magistrate, interned for the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, and worked as a research assistant for two law professors. After law school, Judge Johnson served as a legal assistant at the firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver, and Jacobson. He worked on high-profile insider trading litigation and edited training materials on banking and securities law. He then worked as a law clerk for the D.C. Office of Bar Counsel. In 1987, Judge Johnson was an attorney at the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) for the District of Columbia (then known as the "Office of the Corporation Counsel"). He served as trial counsel in the Child Support Section for three years. Judge Johnson sought to establish paternity, modify, and enforce child support orders in that capacity. In 1990, he was an Assistant Section Chief, and in 1993 became Chief of the Child Support Section. During his tenure as OAG's Child Support Section Chief, Judge Johnson crafted innovative paternity and support legislation and participated in designing the District's automated data processing system. Also, while serving as Section Chief, he wrote procedures for integrating child support services into the District's Domestic Violence Intake Center. When the DVIC opened its doors in November 1996, Judge Johnson became OAG's Director of Child Support Operations in the new facility. In that capacity, he was responsible for policy and procedural oversight while personally litigating a high volume of paternity and support matters.

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Antonio Coe-Redd, son of Deborah Coe-Redd, is a two-time graduate of Howard University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and a Master’s Degree in Education. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Long Beach, California, where he graduated from Long Beach Poly High School. Mr. Coe-Redd became a father at the age of 23. After several attempts to establish a stable co-parenting foundation, he was later in 22 years of court battles about child custody, child support, and visitation. As a black single father, the court system seemed slanted in favor of the custodial mother, especially when financial resources were scarce. The court had to maintain a neutral position to decide on the child’s best interests. Therefore, the court could not give him advice. Mr. Coe-Redd also learned that lawyers could not provide free advice absent the risk of liability. After four custody trials and more than one hundred court hearings, in three separate states, for the same child, he gained invaluable knowledge about navigating the judicial system on matters surrounding child custody, visitation, child support, and contempt. That is why he wrote: Memoirs of an American DAD-Courts, Kids, Co-Parenting: How to Navigating Judicial System for Child Custody, Visitation, and Child Support. He developed Co-ParentResources.com, a nationwide resource center for parents. Mr. Coe-Redd’s goal is to encourage parents to be more reasonable and to compromise. During high emotional matters surrounding their children, some matters need to be decided by a judge. Afterall, a child loves both parents, and those parents should not be enemies.

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Angelisa D. Young is a native Washingtonian and currently serves as the Chief of Shared Service Section at the Office Attorney General for the District of Columbia. Ms. Young’s primary professional goal is to improve the relationship that child support has with the residents of the District of Columbia. She delivers a customer centered approach when providing service and educating/informing customers about services, processes, programs, as well as district and federal child support laws. Ms. Young has experience working with clients at various socio-economical levels. She has been recognized as a thoughtful leader with an ideology that customer service serves as an integral component which enhances the reputation of an agency. Ms. Young brings twenty-two (22) years of experiences as a public servant and advocates for individuals who have been marginalized. Her focus has always been to bridge the gap between the government and its citizens. Other goals include strengthening existing partnerships with local agencies/organizations and developing new partnerships that support and encourage parents to work together to raise healthy children. Ms. Young graduated from the University District of Columbia with an Associates degree in Corrections Administration, bachelor’s in Administration of Justice, and a Master of Public Administration. Ms. Young is strongly committed to advocacy of social justice issues.

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Michael Stevenson is a Workforce Development Specialist within the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG), Child Support Services Division (CSSD), Workforce Services Unit. Since 2016, Mr. Stevenson has been dedicated to working on behalf of the children of the District of Columbia as a team member of the Workforce Services Unit’s Alternative Solutions Center. Mr. Stevenson has more than 20 years of experience serving diverse communities and assisting individuals to connect to and thrive in careers.

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Amee Vora is a Senior Staff Attorney in the Domestic Violence/Family Law Unit at the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. Ms. Vora represents domestic violence survivors in civil protection order cases and other family law matters, including custody and divorce. Additionally, as a member of Legal Aid’s Child Support Community Legal Services Project, Ms. Vora represents litigants in child support and parentage cases, and engages in advocacy efforts to improve the District’s child support system. She is fluent in Gujarati and proficient in Hindi. Prior to joining the Legal Aid in February 2016, Ms. Vora was a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Ann O’Regan Keary of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. In 2021, she briefly left Legal Aid to join a national public interest law firm where she represented victims of crime and sexual violence in civil cases. Ms. Vora graduated with an A.B.,magna cum laude, from Bryn Mawr College. She received her J.D.,cum laude, from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was an Associate Editor of the Michigan Journal of Gender & Law. During law school, Ms. Vora held a part-time position as a Project Coordinator for the Family Law Project of Legal Services of South Central Michigan, where she served survivors of domestic violence who were in need of family law services. In addition to her work as a student attorney in Michigan’s Pediatric Advocacy and Human Trafficking clinics, Ms. Vora also interned at Sanctuary for Families in New York and Bread for the City in the District of Columbia. While in law school, Ms. Vora was a recipient of the Jenny Runkles Memorial Award for her devotion to public interest and the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan Julia D. Darlow Award for her commitment to social justice and advancing the interests of women lawyers.

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Dana Rubin is a Supervising Attorney at Child Advocacy and Immigration programs, D.C. Volunteer Lawyers Project. Ms. Rubin serves as a court-appointed Guardian ad litem for children in complex custody cases in D.C. Superior Court. She also represents young people seeking Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, asylum seekers, and other related immigration matters. Prior to joining DCVLP in 2021, Ms. Rubin was a Guardian ad litem for children in abuse and neglect cases in D.C. and an Assistant Attorney General in the Child Protection Section of the D.C. Office of the Attorney General. Ms. Rubin received her J.D. from American University Washington College of Law and her B.A. from Brandeis University.

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