[3] She majored in history at Yale College, graduating in 1992, and received her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1996.

[1] From 2001 to 2003, Easterly practiced civil and criminal litigation at a law firm in New York and then as a solo practitioner in Washington, D.C. During this period her clients included the Metropolitan Opera.

[1] In April 2003, she returned to D.C.'s Public Defender Service, where she worked in the Special Litigation Division until she was appointed to the bench.

In that role she litigated civil and criminal cases, wrote amicus briefs, and testified before the Council of the District of Columbia.

[citation needed] Easterly was nominated for the D.C. Court of Appeals by President Barack Obama on August 2, 2011,[4] and confirmed by the Senate on November 18, 2011.