Judge Mary Ellen Coster Williams

Judge Williams was appointed to the United States Court of Federal Claims on July 21, 2003. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Catholic University, receiving a joint degree in 1974, a BA in Latin and Greek and an MA in Latin. Judge Williams received her JD in 1977 from the Duke University School of Law, where she served on the editorial board of the Duke Law Journal.

From March 6, 1989 - July 18, 2003, Judge Williams was an administrative judge on the General Services Administration Board of Contract Appeals. While on the Board, she resolved federal government contract cases as a trial tribunal. She was a partner in the law firm of Janis, Schuelke and Weschler from 1987 to 1989 where she specialized in civil litigation. Prior to that, Judge Williams served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Civil Division in Washington, D.C. from 1983 until 1987. She was an associate with Schnader, Harrison, Segal and Lewis from 1979 to 1983 and with Fulbright and Jaworski from 1977 to 1979.

Judge Williams has been active in bar associations and professional organizations for many years. From 2002-2003, she was the Chair of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Section of Public Contract Law, having served as the Section’s Chair-Elect, Vice Chair, and Secretary. She is currently the Section’s delegate to the ABA House of Delegates. Judge Williams served as the section representative
on the ABA Committee on Ethics and Professionalism and the ABA Commission on Evaluation of Rules of Professional Conduct from 1998 to 2000 and chaired the Ad Hoc Committee on Model Rules of Professional Responsibility of the Bar Association of D.C. in the early 1980's. She was a member of the ABA President’s Task Force on Government Lawyers from 2000-01 and was elected a life fellow of the American Bar Foundation in 1985. Judge Williams also served the Bar Association of the District of Columbia in many capacities, as its Foundation president, as a Trustee, and on the Board of Directors. She was chair of the D.C. Young Lawyers Section, secretary of the D.C. Bar, and a member of the Policy Board for Legal Counsel for the Elderly.

Judge Williams has been an adjunct professor at the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University since 2004, where she teaches Remedies. She has also taught Administrative Law and has lectured extensively on government contracts and civil trial practice.

Judge Williams was born and raised in Flushing, N.Y. She is married and has two children.