George Levi Russell III

George Levi Russell III (born 1965) is the Chief District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.

Biography

George Levi Russell III was born in 1965 in Baltimore, Maryland. His father, George Levi Russell Jr. (1929–2025), was the first African American to sit on the circuit court in Maryland. Russell received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Morehouse College in 1988. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1991. He served as a law clerk for Judge Robert M. Bell of the Maryland Court of Appeals from 1991 to 1992. He worked at Hazel & Thomas PC from 1992 to 1994. He served as an Assistant United States Attorney from 1994 to 1999 handling civil matters. He worked at the law firm of Peter G. Angelos, PC from 2000 to 2002. He again served as an Assistant United States Attorney from 2002 to 2007 handling criminal cases. He was appointed as an associate judge of the Circuit Court of Maryland in Baltimore where he served from 2007 until 2012.

Federal judicial service

On November 10, 2011, President Barack Obama nominated Russell to be a district judge on the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.