John Gleeson has been a United States District Judge since October 1994. A graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, Gleeson has served as adjunct faculty at the New York University School of Law and Brooklyn Law School. Before his appointment to the bench, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of New York for 10 years, serving as Chief of Appeals, Chief of Special Prosecutions, Chief of Organized Crime, and Chief of the Criminal Division.
He began his career as a law clerk for the Hon. Boyce F. Martin, Jr., United States Circuit Judge in the Sixth Circuit and then as a litigation associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore. He is a former member and chair of the Defender Services Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States and currently serves on the board of directors of the Institute of Judicial Administration at New York University School of Law. Gleeson joined Vera's Board of Trustees in 2014 (an organization that fights against mass incarceration).