MHBA Holds Annual Meeting and 2019-20 ElectionsFirst Male Hispanic Judge Appointed in Montgomery County

On Thursday December 21, 2017, President Hogan named Carlos F. Acosta to the Montgomery County District Court.  On Friday, January 26, 2018Carlos F. Acosta will make history as the FIRST Hispanic male to be appointed to the Montgomery County Court.  Judge Designee Acosta will be the ONLY Hispanic sitting judge on the Montgomery County bench.

Judge Designee Acosta has been a longtime Maryland Hispanic Bar Association (MHBA) member.  He is a past MHBA President and former board member.  In 2016, Judge Designee Acosta was awarded the MHBA’s Leadership Award recognizing his distinct and extraordinary accomplishments with identifiable impacts that have provided a significant advance in enabling, understanding or communicating key legal issues during the prior five-year period.  This award is designed to recognize one or more instances of extraordinary work, of outstanding quality or of unusual importance performed by an attorney, displayed commitment to activities that advance the profession and improve society or demonstrated outstanding skill or effort above and beyond his or her prescribed professional duties and workload.

In addition to his contributions to the MHBA, Judge Designee Acosta was also on the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce.  His contributions to the Hispanic community extend far beyond the MHBA and Chamber of Commerce.  He is currently an adjunct Associate Professor of Law at the American University – Washington College of Law where he teaches and mentors Hispanic students.  He served as a faculty member for the National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina.  Judge Designee Acosta has been a lecturer both domestically and internationally for various Department of Justice agencies, the Financial Action Task Force-Le Groupe d’Action Financiére (FATF-GAFI) and the United Nations Development Programme.

While at the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division as the Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT) Mérida Program Manager, he supported the Department’s mission of fighting organized crime via several programs, including Prosecutorial Capacity Building, Strengthening Government of Mexico Law Enforcement Integrity Systems, Certification of Forensic Laboratories, Extradition Training, Asset Forfeiture, Evidence Preservation and Chain of Custody, and Pretrial Case Resolution.  Judge Designee Acosta has traveled to Kosovo several times to train senior prosecutors on cross-examination and ethics as well as on conducting death investigations. He was asked by the Justice Education Society of British Columbia to assist in a seminar entitled “Alternatives to Incarceration in Central America” which was presented in Guatemala December 2014.

In January of 2012, Prince George’s Police Chief Mark A. Magaw appointed Judge Designee Acosta as Inspector General for the Prince George’s County Police Department.  Judge Designee Acosta’s focused on the belief that the police department is only as good as the faith the community has in it.  As Inspector General he oversaw the Department’s Internal Affairs Division, investigating systemic or specific issues affecting the police department’s operations.  Prior to his position at the Police Department, Judge Designee Acosta was a Deputy State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County, Trial Attorney for the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Gang Squad, Special Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia and an Assistant State’s Attorney for the Montgomery County, Maryland Office of the State’s Attorney.  Judge Designee Acosta is a graduate of the University of Maryland at College Park (B.A. and M.A.) and the Southern Methodist University School of Law in Dallas where he received his J.D.

The Maryland Hispanic Bar Association is proud of Judge Designee Carlos Acosta’s accomplishments and his undeterred commitment to improving the lives of the people of Maryland!