Through outstanding legal skills and commitment to training, Pamela Montgomery ’78 has impacted soldiers and civilians nationwide. After graduating from Carleton as a history major and earning a JD from the University of Georgia, Montgomery worked with the Georgia Legal Services Program. In this role, she represented low-income individuals in housing, unemployment, divorces, and civil rights cases in Savannah and southeastern Georgia. She later joined the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s (JAG) Corps. As an appellate attorney, she defended soldiers stationed across the nation and overseas. Her talent led to an appointment with the Defense Appellate Division’s Supreme Court Briefing Branch; she was later selected to serve as law clerk for the Army Court of Criminal Appeals and a national recruiter focusing on minority representation.
Leaving the service, Montgomery joined the Office of General Counsel for the U.S. Sentencing Commission. For 25 years she worked with federal judges, drafted reports to Congress on sentencing policies, and led training and outreach programs for the nation’s criminal justice system.
Outside of her professional duties, Montgomery established a childcare center for federal employees and chaired the board of directors at a public charter school for girls in Washington, D.C.’s, most economically challenged ward. After retiring, she continues to serve her community as chief of staff to a county supervisor. She lives in Woodbridge, Virginia.