Williams & Connolly partner Ana Reyes has been nominated by President Biden to serve on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. If confirmed, Ana—who immigrated to the United States as a child—would be the first Hispanic woman and first openly LGBTQ person to ever serve on the D.C. federal court.
Williams & Connolly Executive Committee Chairman Joe Petrosinelli praised Ana, commenting, “Ana is – and always has been – one of our stars, and a mentor to many lawyers at our firm. She has handled a wide range of legal matters involving challenging issues, which will serve her well as a federal judge. Ana is intelligent, dedicated, fair, and compassionate – everything one would want in a partner and a friend. Although we will miss her at the firm, we thank President Biden for recognizing her many accomplishments and nominating her to the federal bench.”
Ana serves as co-chair of the firm’s International Disputes practice group and served on the firm’s Executive Committee from 2018-2021. For more than a decade, Ana has devoted significant time to her pro bono representations of asylum seekers and refugee organizations, including numerous appellate matters for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and impact litigation for Human Rights First. In 2016, she received the Legacy Award by Unlikely Heroes for her successful representation of young women escaping persecution by a regional terrorist organization. After appointing her, the Honorary Board for the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies described Ana as representing “the very best of the legal profession: an accomplished and skilled litigator who provides the same high-quality zealous advocacy whether she is representing an international corporation, a foreign government, or a refugee child.”
Ana has served as Clinical Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School teaching Advocacy in International Arbitration and prior to that was an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown Law School teaching a course in the use of experts in federal courts.