Herbert B. Dixon, Jr.
Judge Herbert B. Dixon, Jr. ('70, BSEE), is a senior judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was appointed to successive 15-year terms on the court - first by President Ronald Reagan and subsequently by President William Clinton. Upon the announcement of Judge Dixon’s retirement and assumption of senior judge status, the Legal Times/National Law Journal referred to him as the “Technology Judge.”
Judge Dixon is a member of the Council on Criminal Justice’s National Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, charged with developing evidence-based standards for AI in the criminal justice system. He serves on the Advisory Council of the ABA Task Force on Law and Artificial Intelligence and is a contributing author to the ABA’s 2024 book publication, “Artificial Intelligence: Legal Issues, Policy, and Practical Strategies.” Judge Dixon co-authored Navigating AI in the Judiciary: New Guidelines for Judges and Their Chambers, a publication offering practical, ethical guidance on the responsible use of artificial intelligence in judicial chambers. He is a former member of the American Bar Association (ABA) Board of Governors, the ABA House of Delegates, and the ABA TechShow Planning Board. He is a former chair of both the National Conference of State Trial Judges and the ABA Standing Committee on the American Judicial System. Judge Dixon is the immediate past chair of both the ABA Journal Board of Editors and the ABA Judicial Division’s Book Editorial Board. He serves on The Judges’ Journal Editorial Board and is the technology columnist for the magazine. He is the senior legal adviser to the Center for Legal and Court Technology (formerly the Courtroom 21 Project), an initiative of the Marshall-Wythe Law School at the College of William & Mary and the National Center for State Courts.
While in active service with the Superior Court, Judge Dixon served as presiding judge of both the Civil Division and the Multi-Door Dispute Resolution Division and as co-chair of the Strategic Planning Leadership Council for the D.C. Courts, the entity charged with writing the strategic plan for the District of Columbia Courts and evaluating progress in achieving the goals and objectives of the plan. In addition, he served as chair of the Superior Court’s Electronic Filing Pilot Project, which received national recognition for its success, and oversaw implementation of the Superior Court’s technology-enhanced courtroom project.
Judge Dixon has received numerous awards, including the ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) Pursuit of Justice Award for lawyers and judges who have shown outstanding merit and who excel in providing access to justice for all; the William R. McMahon Award by the National Conference of Specialized Court Judges, for leadership in the field of technology in the courts; is an inductee into the Washington Bar Association’s Hall of Fame, and received the Judicial Honoree of the Year award from the Bar Association of the District of Columbia.
Judge Dixon is an Elder with Northeastern Presbyterian Church. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Howard University and a Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. He is married to Howard U. alumna sweetheart, Phoebe Boykins Dixon. They have two adult children, both of whom are Ph.D. engineers.