Chief Judge Anita Josey-Herring graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia in 1982, and Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC in 1987. Upon graduating from Georgetown Law Center in 1987, she obtained a judicial clerkship position with the Honorable Herbert B. Dixon, Jr. in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. In 1988, Chief Judge Josey-Herring joined the District of Columbia Public Defender Service (“PDS”) as a staff attorney and was later promoted to the position of Deputy Director of PDS.

President Clinton appointed Chief Judge Josey-Herring as an Associate Judge to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 1997. As Deputy Presiding and later Presiding Judge of the Family Division, she helped reorganize the Family Division, now the Family Court, and implemented requirements of the Family Court Act of 2001. Chief Judge Josey-Herring has held the position of Chief Judge since October 2020 and has navigated the Court through the pandemic and implemented a court reorganization plan, Reimagining the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The reorganization includes traditional in person hearings and trials as well as virtual proceedings to increase access of justice for litigants and court participants. Over the course of her career, she has served on numerous committees and boards, taught as a law professor, and has received awards and recognitions for her service.