Gerald Bruce Lee (born February 9, 1952) is a former
United States district judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
of the
.
Education and career highlights
Lee was educated at
American University where he earned a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
degree in 1973, and a
Juris Doctor in 1976 from American University's
Washington College of Law
The American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL or WCL) is the law school of American University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleytown section of nort ...
. Lee worked in private practice in
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
until 1992, when he became a Circuit court judge on the 19th Judicial Circuit of Virginia, Fairfax Circuit Court. Lee was nominated to his present position as United States District Judge by President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
on May 22, 1998, and received his commission on October 1, 1998.
He retired from active service on September 30, 2017.
Biography
As an attorney
Prior to ascending to the bench, Lee was a trial lawyer for fifteen years, representing individuals and businesses in civil and criminal cases in state and federal courts. He was a partner at Cohen, Dunn & Sinclair, an Alexandria, Virginia, law firm.
As an attorney, Lee was involved in a number of notable cases. He was one of the first to assert the "battered woman defense" in a murder case in 1978 and his client was acquitted of murder. He successfully defended a Vietnam veteran in a criminal case and arranged for the veteran to receive proper medical treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and drug treatment. As counsel for local civil rights organization he defended the principal of a local high school against disciplinary action after school officials learned he was in an interracial marriage. He defended a number of corporations against commercial and employment claims.
Lee was an active member of the Virginia State Bar. He was an elected member of the Virginia State Bar Council, Chairman of the General Practice of Law Section, President of the Northern Virginia Black Attorneys Association, and Chairman of the Judicial Selection Committee of the Alexandria Bar Association.
In 1990, Governor Douglas Wilder appointed Lee to serve on the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the managers of Washington National and Dulles International Airports. During his tenure on the board both airports were in the midst of modernization and expansion.
When he was under consideration for the appointment, Lee's credentials were reviewed by twelve bar associations. Lee received the highest rating possible for all twelve bar associations for the appointment.
As a state judge
Prior to his appointment to the United States District Court, Lee was a trial judge with the 19th Judicial Circuit of Virginia (Fairfax) for six and one-half years. As a Circuit Court Judge in Virginia's largest and busiest trial court, he tried a wide variety of cases, both jury and non-jury. His trial docket included cases involving commercial law, products liability, personal injury,
medical malpractice
Medical malpractice is a legal cause of action that occurs when a medical or health care professional, through a negligent act or omission, deviates from standards in their profession, thereby causing injury or death to a patient. The neglige ...
, contracts, and criminal law.
During his tenure on the Fairfax Bench, Lee was an active member of the Virginia Judges Judicial Conference. He served on two key committees of the conference, the Circuit Court Judicial Education Committee, and the Circuit Court Judges Bench Book Committee. He served as Chairman of the Judicial Educational Committee, and was responsible for ongoing training and continuing education programs for 150 state trial judges. Lee served as a member of the Bench Book Committee, where he was responsible for editing and updating the Virginia Judges' courtroom reference text, the Virginia Circuit Court Judges Benchbook.
Lee has been a member of the legal community for twenty-five years. Subsequent to his appointment to the Fairfax Circuit Court in 1992, he became known throughout the legal community for his handling of complex civil cases, his efforts to improve the court's use of technology, and his commitment to community service.
As a federal judge
In April 1998, Virginia's United States Senators
Chuck Robb
Charles Spittal Robb (born June 26, 1939) is an American politician from Virginia and former officer in the United States Marine Corps. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 64th governor of Virginia from 1982 to 1986 and a United ...
and
John Warner recommended Lee for appointment to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, to fill the seat vacated when Judge
James C. Cacheris took
senior status
Senior status is a form of semi- retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of service as a federal judge must be at leas ...
. President Clinton made the nomination on May 22, 1998, which was confirmed by the
Senate in unanimous vote on September 28, 1998. He received his commission on October 1, 1998.
[ He retired from active service on September 30, 2017.
]
Notable cases
* Brian Patrick Regan, former Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
master sergeant convicted of espionage
* Jay Lentz, who was acquitted of the kidnapping and murder of his ex-wife, but later convicted on retrial before Judge T.S. Ellis, III
* Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, convicted of providing material support to Al-Qaeda and a conspiracy to assassinate the President of the United States
Commentary
Lee coined the phrase "adrenaline of excellence" for what occurs in the instant before entering the courtroom to begin a proceeding.
:One day I was about to enter court and one of my student interns, a WCL [Washington College of Law
The American University Washington College of Law (AUWCL or WCL) is the law school of American University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It is located on the western side of Tenley Circle in the Tenleytown section of nort ...
] student, asked me, he said, "Well, Judge, are you ever afraid when you walk into the courtroom? Is it fear that you experience?" I stopped and I thought about it and I said, You know, we're never afraid as we enter a courtroom or as we begin a presentation, fear suggests that we're not prepared or that we're inadequate. What we experience as we're about to enter a courtroom as lawyers to present a case is what I call "the adrenaline of excellence." I call it "the adrenaline of excellence," I call it that because, as you walk into a room, what you experience is your body and your muscles tighten, your heart and your mind concentrate, and your body and your heart and mind are telling you that you're prepared to deliver peak performance, so I call the feeling of what you're about to do "the adrenaline of excellence."
Lee's motto is "To whom much is given, much is expected."
Controversy
In 2003, Lee dismissed the kidnapping and murder charges against Jay E. Lentz, a former naval intelligence officer, even though a jury had found him guilty. It marked the first time a judge dismissed a jury verdict in a federal death penalty case. Earlier in the case, Lee advised a witness that if she cried he would stop her testimony, a move that is unusual in that it is rare for a judge to preview testimony in a death penalty hearing or restrict how witnesses can act or what they can say.
In the 2011 case of USA v. Ishmael Jones
Ishmael Jones (born 15 December 1960) is the pseudonym used by a former CIA officer. He resigned from the CIA and became a leading proponent of American intelligence reform, with special emphasis on the improvement of human source intelligence co ...
, a pen name, Lee ruled in summary judgment for the government that Jones, a former CIA officer, had violated his agreement with the Agency by failing to obtain pre-publication approval for his book.
See also
* List of African-American federal judges
This is a list of African Americans who have served as United States federal judges. , 260 African-Americans have served on the federal bench.
United States Supreme Court
United States Courts of Appeals
United States District Courts ...
* List of African-American jurists
This list includes individuals self-identified as African Americans who have made prominent contributions to the field of law in the United States, especially as eminent judges or legal scholars. Individuals who may have obtained law degrees or ...
References
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Gerald Bruce
1952 births
Living people
American University alumni
Washington College of Law alumni
African-American judges
Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
United States district court judges appointed by Bill Clinton
People from Washington, D.C.
20th-century American judges
21st-century American judges
Virginia circuit court judges