Anna Blackburne-Rigsby

The Honorable Anna Blackburne-Rigsby was appointed Chief Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals in March 2017. Chief Judge Blackburne-Rigsby chairs the Joint Committee on Judicial Administration for the District of Columbia court system. Chief Judge Blackburne-Rigsby served as President of the National Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and as Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) for the 2023-2024 term. She chairs the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) Committee of Public Trust and Confidence in State Courts and chairs the national AI Governance and Ethics work group of the NCSC/TRI AI Consortium for Law and Courts. Chief Judge Blackburne-Rigsby led the establishment of the DC Courts AI Taskforce and also the establishment of the D.C. Courts Regulatory Reform Taskforce to examine innovative ways to expand access to justice. Under her leadership of the Joint Committee on Judicial Administration, the D.C. Courts have been at the forefront of innovations to improve the administration of justice.

Chief Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby has served as a judge on the trial and appellate level of the D.C. Courts. Prior to being designated Chief Judge, Chief Judge Blackburne-Rigsby was nominated by President George W. Bush in August 2006 to serve as an Associate Judge of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Before that, she was nominated by President William Jefferson Clinton to serve as an Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia from 2000-2006, and she previously served as a Magistrate Judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia from 1995-2000.

Previously, she served in the D.C. Attorney General’s Office and worked in private practice at the law firm of Hogan Lovells, LLC. She served as a Commissioner on the District of Columbia’s Access to Justice Commission and served as Chair of the District of Columbia Courts’ Standing Committee on Fairness and Access. Chief Judge Blackburne-Rigsby received her BA from Duke University in Political Science and received the Presidential Leadership Award. She received her Law degree from Howard University School of Law where she served as Lead Articles Editor for the Howard Law Journal.

Chief Judge Blackburne-Rigsy has taught Trial Advocacy at Harvard Law School and Legal Ethics at Georgetown Law School and the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law. Additionally, she has trained judges in Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa.