Moxila A. Upadhyaya
Former American president Donald Trump appeared in a federal courtroom in downtown Washington, DC, before a judge who is Indian American.
On September 7, 2022, Moxila A. Upadhyaya was chosen to serve as a United States Magistrate Judge. Upadhyaya, who was reared close to Kansas City, Missouri, and was born in Gujarat, earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism with honors from the Missouri School of Journalism and a bachelor’s degree in arts with honors in Latin from the University of Missouri.
Moxila A. Upadhyaya
She achieved a distinction for her trial work representing clients in the Criminal Justice Clinic and was a member of the Administrative Law Review while earning her JD, cum laude, at American University, Washington College of Law.
Ms. Upadhyaya worked as Eric T. Washington’s law clerk for two years after earning her law degree. Mr. Washington was the former Chief Judge of the DC Court of Appeals.
The Washington, DC, office of Venable LLP is where she performed sophisticated commercial and administrative litigation after that. She left Venable in 2011–12 to work as Robert L. Wilkins’s first law clerk while he was a district judge in this court. Wilkins is now a US Circuit Judge for the DC Circuit.
After serving as Judge Wilkins’ law clerk, Ms. Upadhyaya returned to Venable and carried on with her litigation practice until she was appointed to the bench. According to her resume, Ms. Upadhyaya dedicated her pro bono practice to representing poor clients in post-conviction proceedings, including clients who raised claims under the DC Innocence Protection Act and the DC
Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act. This was done while she was an associate and eventually a partner at Venable.
Judge Upadhyaya received the Defender of Innocence Award from the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project in 2009 for her efforts in this role, and Venable recognized her as Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year in 2006.
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Judge Upadhyaya was assigned to the Committee on Grievances of this court for the years 2021–2022. She has held positions on the boards of directors for the DC Access to Justice Foundation and the Council for Court Excellence. Upadhyaya served as the previous co-chair of the DC Bar Litigation Section Steering Committee. She is also an American Bar Foundation Fellow.
