Meet President-Elect Candidate Josh Mogil
March 12, 2026
The D.C. Bar's 2026 general and Communities elections will run from April 15 to June 3. Eligible voters will receive an email link to their ballots via Survey & Ballot Systems, an independent vendor administering the elections. Results of the elections will be announced on the Bar's website and during the 2026 Celebration of Leadership on June 18.
Here, get to know Josh Mogil, one of two candidates running for D.C. Bar president-elect for the 2026–2027 term. The president-elect serves for one year before becoming president and then continues in office a third year as immediate past president.
Josh Mogil, adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and senior associate at WilmerHale, intends to unite the local legal community in protecting the rule of law and the independence of the District's judicial system if given the opportunity to serve as D.C. Bar president-elect. "These are not normal times; we are facing unprecedented attacks on our system of justice," he says. "By reimagining the D.C. Bar as a central hub for action and community-building, we can face these challenges head on and together."
Mogil's platform involves four initiatives: empowering the D.C. Bar to speak out in support of the rule of law, lowering D.C. Bar license fees and other costs for public interest and government attorneys facing significant strain, encouraging more pro bono work to close the access to justice gap in the District, and launching a "Justice You Can Practice" program to bolster member services and in-person gatherings.
Mogil argues that public interest and government attorneys are "on the frontlines of saving our democracy, and they are facing budget challenges or termination." Mogil, who currently serves as D.C. Bar treasurer, is advocating for lower license fees and free CLE courses for these members. "As D.C. Bar treasurer, I saw firsthand that being a lawyer in D.C. comes with an increasing set of costs," Mogil says. "I also served on the Bar's Executive Committee, Investment Committee, and Budget Committee. So, I know we can do more for these attorneys by lowering these costs."
Mogil says he intends to work with the D.C. Courts to encourage more pro bono legal work. He proposes raising the D.C. Courts Capital Pro Bono High Honor Roll threshold from 100 hours to 150 hours per year to reward attorneys who go above and beyond in assisting people in underserved communities seeking legal assistance.
"I am a huge fan of Kelli Neptune and the incredible programs put on by the Pro Bono Center," Mogil says. "I regularly attend every clinic the Pro Bono Center hosts, ranging from the Saturday Advice & Referral clinics to the Tuesday Landlord Tenant Resource Center clinics at Superior Court. I also attend the quarterly immigration clinics."
"I believe the legal profession is facing unprecedented challenges, ranging from impacts on government attorneys and law firms under attack to public interest lawyers seeing a rise in their caseload and threats to funding," continues Mogil. "I hope to inspire our Bar members to do more to stand up for those communities and our profession. Our oath as attorneys and to the rule of law requires us to rise to the challenge."
Mogil also wants to develop a yearlong program called "Justice You Can Practice," featuring in-person programs, innovative tools, updated and free CLE courses and training, and enhanced member services focused on preserving democracy and the legal profession.
Mogil was raised in Long Island, New York. Growing up as a triplet, Mogil says he was already gaining soft litigation skills as a mediator among his siblings. "I was the sibling who helped keep the peace," he says. "Growing up meant learning how to listen, finding a common ground, and bringing people back together. Those early lessons shape how I practice law and how I serve the D.C. Bar because we're strongest when we work as a unified community, especially in protecting the rule of law."
Mogil moved to the District to pursue his studies at Georgetown University, earning his bachelor of science in international politics and juris doctor degrees. Mogil is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law and a term member at the Council on Foreign Relations.
After earning his undergraduate degree, Mogil worked as a political appointee in both the Obama and Biden administrations. He gained governmental work experience at USAID and at the U.S. Department of Justice, two places that instilled in him a dedication to the rule of law.
He worked for Sally Yates, a career prosecutor and deputy attorney general who was fired in 2017 for refusing to defend President Trump's "Muslim travel ban" during his first term in office. "I watched my DOJ boss at the time heroically practice law in a way that shook the world," says Mogil. "Sally Yates got fired for doing the right thing. I knew then and there that I wanted to be a person who stood up like that too. So, I decided to go to law school."
Mogil, a 2019 John Payton Fellow at the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, joined WilmerHale in 2021. He took a brief hiatus from the firm to clerk for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Mogil returned to WilmerHale in 2022 but took another hiatus to work at the Department of Justice as counsel and then deputy chief of staff and senior counsel to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. Back at WilmerHale since February 2025, Mogil advises clients on investigations, regulatory compliance, and enforcement matters.
"For example, I want to educate and empower all of our 123,000 members to learn about immigration law through CLEs, trainings, and programs, and then [encourage them to] participate in additional pro bono programs to help with the immigration crisis in this country and other situations facing so many innocent people," he says. "I think that we can empower everyone to get involved in the crises of our time, and the Pro Bono Center is a great way to do it."
In addition to his involvement with the D.C. Bar, Mogil served as president of the District of Columbia LGBTQ+ Bar Association in 2023–2024, when hundreds of anti-trans bills were being advanced around the country. "[We] worked to fight back through education, programming, and advocacy against discrimination," Mogil says. "If elected D.C. Bar president-elect, I commit to keeping up that fight to protect all marginalized communities and foster a renewed sense of community amongst the lawyers in D.C. I hope to be your biggest cheerleader, advocate, and defender."
"We have learned from the lessons of the Stonewall riots and the '60s Civil Rights Movement that you have to be joyful in this work," Mogil continues. "You have to bring people together. You cannot let oppression get to you. You have to keep fighting and rising up together. If you want to go far, you must go together."
"I am a big fan of living here in the District of Columbia. It has been my home for 20 years. It is heartbreaking to see the attacks on our city and on Home Rule," Mogil says. "I am running for Bar president because I love D.C., and I believe with all my heart that the D.C. Bar can reinvent itself for [the] challenges we face. It has incredible resources to make change."
"I am running for Bar president-elect because I believe the D.C. Bar should be not just something you get an email from once a month, but the place you want be to learn, to attend wonderful programs, to meet fellow members of [our] profession, and to foster the type of change we need to see. I believe that together we can meet this moment and empower our members to be the best lawyers [they] can be with courage, unity, and joy," Mogil adds.
