The judges of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland are pleased to announce their appointment of Charles D. Austin to the position of United States Magistrate Judge.  Mr. Austin will take the oath of office during an informal ceremony on October 23, 2023.  A formal ceremony will be held at a later date in the Baltimore Courthouse.

Mr. Austin was born and raised in Maryland.  He attended Temple University and graduated with a B.A. in journalism.  After working several years in broadcast news, he received his J.D. from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law.  He graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif.  While at Maryland Law, Mr. Austin competed as a member of the National Trial Team, was an editor on the Maryland Law Review, and served as vice president of the Black Law Students Association.

Upon graduation from law school, Mr. Austin served as a law clerk to the Honorable Gerald Bruce Lee of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and, the following year, to the Honorable Roger L. Gregory of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.  From November 2014 to October 2018, he was in private practice at Crowell & Moring in Washington, D.C., where he litigated civil and criminal matters in federal and state courts.

In October 2018, he was appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, where he prosecuted a range of criminal offenses.  In September 2022, Mr. Austin was selected to serve as Deputy Chief of the Civil Rights and Special Victims Section in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.  In January 2023, Mr. Austin was appointed as a trial attorney in the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, where, as a member of the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section, he enforced fair housing and land use laws.

United States Magistrate Judges are appointed by the district judges for a term of eight years and are eligible for reappointment to successive terms.  The position filled by Mr. Austin became open when United States Magistrate Judge Brendan A. Hurson was commissioned as a United States District Judge on October 11, 2023.  In anticipation of Judge Hurson’s elevation, a merit selection panel composed of attorneys and other members of the community reviewed all qualified applications before recommending a slate of candidates to the full bench for review.  Mr. Austin was selected from this slate.