Andrea Harnett was installed as a Magistrate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in January 1985, and retired from the bench in 2014. Judge Harnett graduated from Northwestern University and from Columbia Law School, after being named a Harlan Fiske Scholar. Following law school, Judge Harnett worked as an Assistant United States Attorney, for 11 years in DC, prosecuting criminal cases.
While serving as a Magistrate Judge, she worked in the Criminal, Family, and Civil Divisions, and the Domestic Violence Unit, of the Superior Court. She was one of the founders of the unique and innovative Domestic Violence Unit and developed an expertise in the civil and criminal responses to domestic violence. In 2004, she helped to organize the court’s Domestic Violence Arraignment Court. She has spoken to many groups and attended many conferences in this field, as a student and as a faculty member.
Since retirement, she has served as a part-time mediator at DC Superior Court and as an active volunteer docent at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Judge Harnett is married to Ben Fisherow, a retired environmental lawyer, and has two sons and two granddaughters. They love to travel.