Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Judge Kimberly Knowles- Legally Loc'd!

Cloaked in the judicial black robe, a beautiful woman of color with locs down her back presides as a Magistrate Judge in Washington, DC.

And who said locs weren't professional?


Kimberley S. Knowles was appointed Magistrate Judge by Chief Judge Lee F. Satterfield
on May 10, 2010.

Magistrate Judge Knowles was born and raised in Bronx, New York. She received a
Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1992 and her Juris Doctor from Howard
University School of Law in 1996.

After graduation from law school, she served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Eric T. Washington, then Associate Judge on the D.C. Superior Court. In that capacity, she worked primarily on criminal matters. After her clerkship, Magistrate Judge Knowles joined the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. She served in the Appellate, General Felony, Community Prosecution and Major Crimes, Fraud and Public Corruption and Sex Offense/Domestic Violence Sections, earning numerous special achievement awards. In October 2004, she was selected to be a deputy chief of the Sex Offense/Domestic Violence Section,
where she served until her appointment to the Court. As a deputy chief, she supervised the investigation and prosecution of cases involving domestic violence, the sexual abuse of adults and children and offenses committed against minors. She also regularly conducted trainings on sexual abuse and domestic violence issues for various community organizations. Magistrate Judge Knowles is a licensed foster parent and has one child in her care.

www.dccourts.gov/dccourts/docs/DCSC_Bio_Knowles.pdf
Full Court Press August 2010, DC Courts Publication

Judge Knowles accomplished a lot in her professional career and none of it had to do with her hair. Well, it would be interesting to know her personal experience and the decision to loc her hair, but until then I'm content knowing she's an achiever with locs! *Granted, we do live in chocolate city where people are a tad bit more accepting....

3 comments:

B said...

YESSSS!!!

Unknown said...

This is amazing to read. Despite not having locks myself, it's great to see this an example of how stereotypes are so often wrong.

yummy411 said...

@ b and nepenthe: i'm so proud!!