Speakers:

​D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge: Hon. Sri Srinavasan

Chief Judge Srinivasan was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals in May 2013 and became Chief Judge in February 2020. He graduated from Stanford University in 1989 and Stanford Law School and Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1995. Following graduation, he served as a law clerk to Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the U.S. Solicitor General, and as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. In 1998, he joined the law firm O’Melveny & Myers. From 2002 to 2007, he served as an Assistant to the Solicitor General. In 2007 he returned to O’Melveny & Myers as a partner, later becoming chair of the firm's appellate and Supreme Court practice. From 2011 until his appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals, Chief Judge Srinivasan served as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States. He has taught appellate advocacy at Harvard Law School and currently teaches a seminar on civil rights statutes and the Supreme Court at Georgetown University Law Center.

​DC District Court District Judge: Hon. Loren Alikhan

Judge Loren L. AliKhan was appointed to the District Court in December 2023.  Born in Baltimore, Maryland, she received her B.A., summa cum laude, from Bard College at Simon’s Rock in 2003, and her J.D., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center in 2006. 

After graduating from law school, Judge AliKhan clerked for the Honorable Louis H. Pollak on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Honorable Thomas L. Ambro on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.  After her clerkships, Judge AliKhan served as a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice and as a Temple Bar Scholar in London, England, where she worked with Lord David Hope of Craighead, then a Justice on the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. 

In 2010, Judge AliKhan joined the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Group in the Washington, D.C. office of O’Melveny & Myers, LLP.  There, she had an active pro bono practice and assisted with the firm’s Supreme Court and Appellate Practice Clinic at Harvard Law School and with the legal writing program at Yale Law School.

In 2013, Judge AliKhan was appointed as Deputy Solicitor General in the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, and in 2018, she was elevated to Solicitor General.  During her nine years in the District’s Office of the Solicitor General, Judge AliKhan handled nearly 3,000 cases in the District’s federal and local courts.  In 2020, she was the recipient of the National Association of Attorneys General’s “Senior Staff of the Year.”

In February 2022, Judge AliKhan was appointed to the D.C. Court of Appeals.  She served as an Associate Judge there until her appointment to the District Court.

Judge AliKhan served on the D.C. Circuit’s Advisory Committee on Procedures from 2017 until her appointment to the bench.  She is a member of the American Law Institute and sits on the boards of the American Inns of Court, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, and the Lawyers’ Club of Washington.

​DC District Court Magistrate Judge: Hon. Zia Faraqui

Zia M. Faruqui was appointed as a United States Magistrate Judge on September 14, 2020.  He received a B.A. and J.D. from Georgetown University. Following law school, he was a litigation associate at Willkie Farr in Washington, D.C., where he focused on government investigations and general commercial litigation.  Judge Faruqui then served for twelve years as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in St. Louis and Washington D.C.  While there, he prosecuted cases involving terrorists use of cryptocurrency, North Korean weapons proliferation, darknet sites dedicated to child exploitation, and the theft of antiquities.  He also represented the Department of Justice at numerous conferences across the globe on financial crimes, cryptocurrency, and national security issues.

​DC District Court Magistrate Judge: Hon. Moxila A. Upadhyaya

Moxila A. Upadhyaya was appointed as a United States Magistrate Judge on September 7, 2022.  Judge Upadhyaya was born in Gujarat, India, and raised near Kansas City, Missouri.  Judge Upadhyaya received her Bachelor of Journalism, magna cum laude, from the Missouri School of Journalism and Bachelor of Arts, with honors in Latin, from the University of Missouri.  She received her J.D., cum laude, from the American University, Washington College of Law, where she earned distinction for her trial work representing clients in the Criminal Justice Clinic and was a member of the Administrative Law Review.

After she graduated from law school, Judge Upadhyaya served a two-year term as law clerk to the Honorable Eric T. Washington, former Chief Judge of the D.C. Court of Appeals.  Judge Upadhyaya then joined Venable LLP’s Washington, D.C. office, where she practiced complex commercial and administrative litigation.  Judge Upadhyaya left Venable from 2011-2012 to serve as the first law clerk to the Honorable Robert L. Wilkins (currently U.S. Circuit Judge for the D.C. Circuit), during his tenure as a District Judge on this Court.  Judge Upadhyaya rejoined Venable after her clerkship with Judge Wilkins and continued her litigation practice until her appointment to the bench.  During her time as an associate and ultimately partner at Venable, Judge Upadhyaya devoted her pro bono practice to representing indigent clients in post-conviction proceedings, including representing clients who raised challenges under the D.C. Innocence Protection Act and the D.C. Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act.  For her work in this capacity, the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project awarded Judge Upadhyaya its Defender of Innocence Award in 2009 and Venable named her Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year in 2006.

From 2021-2022, Judge Upadhyaya was appointed to serve on this Court’s Committee on Grievances.  She is the former Co-Chair of the D.C. Bar Litigation Section Steering Committee and has served on the Board of Directors for the D.C. Access to Justice Foundation and Council for Court Excellence.  Judge Upadhyaya is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation.