CHARLES L. REISCHEL
5045 Reno Road N.W., washington D.C. 20008
(202) 727-6252 (work); (202) 244-8093 (home)
Professional Experience
Extensive experience teaching, supervising, and leading
attorneys litigating in courts and administrative agencies,
particularly in appellate courts, and in managing government
litigating units. Personally briefed and argued cases in many
federal circuit courts of appeals and in the D. C. Court of
Appeals. Led a unit at the EEOC devoted to establishing
significant new precedent. Served for six years as counsel to the
D.C. Court of Appealsr Committee on (Bar) Admissions, conducting
investigations and hearings, drafting decisions, defending them in
court, and advising on legal questions. Principal draftsman for
the reports of a number of court and bar committees.
Employment
Deputy Corporation Counsel, Appellate Division
District of Columbia Government
November 1980 – present
Manages the District’s litigation in all appellate courts.
Gives legal advice to trial divisions, agencies, and high
government officials. Teaches and supervises briefing and
argument, and argues significant matters personally (e.g., drug
testing, affirmative action, employee furloughs). Develops and
defends legal positions in many different areas of law, ranging
from civil rights actions (often involving defending against First,
Fourth, Fifth, and Eighth Amendment or Title VII claims) to various
agency decisions (workers compensation, occupational licensing,
government contracts, and land use, among others).
Chief, Legal Division
Bureau of Consumer Protection, Civil Aeronautics Board
November 1978 – November 1980
Supervised administrative and court litigation concerning
violations of agency regulations, often involving consumer fraud or
deceptive advertising.
Trial, appellate, and supervisory attorney, and head of the
Amicus Curiae Branch (1973-1978)
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
November 1969 – October 1978
Litigated equal employment opportunity cases in the federal
trial and appellate courts. Supervised briefing on cutting-edge
issues, including sexual harassment and affirmative action.
Education
Harvard University Law School
J.D. 1969
Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, U.KI
Lionel de Jersey Harvard Fellow 1965 – 1966
Harvard College
A.B. 1965, maana cum laude in Government
Harvard National Scholarships 1961 – 1964
Unsung Hero of New England Football Award, 1964
Publications
“The Constitution, the Disability Act and Questions about
Alcoholism, Addiction and Mental Health,” The Bar
Examiner, August 1992
Editor, C. Reischel, et al., Awwellate Practice
~strlct of Columbia Court of AW~eals (The Bar
Ass’n. of the District of Columbia, 1985)
. , Contributor, Schlei h Grossman, EmwlovmentDiscrlmlnation
Law, chs. 28 h 30 (Bureau of National Affairs, 1976)
Hebert h Reischel, Title VII and the Mul~wle Awwroaches
to Eliminatina Em~lovment Discrimination, 46 N.Y.U.L.
Rev. 449 (1971)
Bar and Court Committees
Member, District of Columbia Bar Committee to Study
Unauthorized Practice, 1994 – present
Member, Character and Fitness Committee
National Conference of Bar Examiners, 1992 – present
Counsel and Member, Committee on Admissions
District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1989 – 1995
Member, District of Columbia Bar Committee to Study the
D.C. Court of Appeals, 1987 – 1990
Chair, Examination Subcommittee
Advisory Committee to the District of Columbia Court of
Appeals on the Bar Admissions Process, 1986 – 1987
CHARLES L. REISCaEL Page 3
Awards
1991 Beatrice Rosenberg Award for Distinguished
Government Service (D.C. Bar)
1978 Younger Federal Lawyer Award (Federal Bar
Association)
Some recent cases
District of Columbia v. AFGE, 619 A.2d 77 (~.~.’1993) (Argued
for emergency stay of order entered that day enjoining employee
furloughs scheduled for next day. Stay granted. Plaintiffs unlikely
to prevail on impairment of contract theory.)
Wilson v. Kellv, 615 A.2d 229 (D.C. 1992) (Briefed and argued
that the D.C. legislature cannot require the Mayor to submit for
its approval contracts exceeding $1 million. Held: statute violates
the District’s charter.)
Christian Uiahts of the Ku Klux Klan v. District of Columbia,
751 F. SUDD. 215 (D.D.C. 1990). .. – affid 972 F.2d 1283 fD.C.Cir.1992)
(After remind on the afternoon before the scheduled march, tried on
an emergency basis the issue of whether the police could shorten
the march because of anticipated violence from counterdemonstrator~. Crediting plaintiffs’ over police experts, court
ruled march could not be shortened.)
Hammon v. Barry, 813 F.2d 412 (D.C.Cir. 1987), rehearinq
denied 826 F.2d 73, rehearing in banc aranted 833 F.2d 367, in banc
order vacated 841 F.2d 426, cert. denied 486 U.S. 1036 (1988)
(Briefed and argued that fire department could require that blacks
be hired in the same proportion as represented in the applicant
pool where there was evidence that the hiring test was invalid.
Held: explicit racial categories are illegal except to remedy past
discrimination, and since the representation of blacks in the fire
department exceeded their representation in the relevant labor
market, such a remedy was improper.)
Jones v. Mckenzie, 833 F.2d 33.5 (D.C. Cir. 1987), vacated sub
nom. Jenkins v. Jones 490 U.S.1001 (1989), on remand 878 F.2d 1476
(D.C. Cir.1989) (Briefed and argued that the public schools could
test bus drivers and attendants for drug use, where the test was
part of a physical and there was evidence of drug use among this
group. The Circuit held that the test was bad because it could not
show drug use on the job, but the Supreme Court vacated.)