Mary Costello Daniel is a General District Court Judge for the 26th Judicial District of Virginia.

Early life and education

Daniel was born in Winchester, Virginia to the late Lewis M. Costello and Joy Hollar Costello, and raised in

Frederick County, Virginia Frederick County is located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 91,419. Its county seat is Winchester. The county was formed in 1743 by the splitting of Orange County. It is Virginia's northernmost county. ...

. She received her undergraduate degree from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. Daniel then obtained a juris doctor from the T.C. Williams School of Law at the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

Career

Daniel began practicing law in 1993 in

Martinsburg, West Virginia Martinsburg is a city in and the seat of Berkeley County, West Virginia, in the tip of the state's Eastern Panhandle region in the lower Shenandoah Valley. Its population was 18,835 in the 2021 census estimate, making it the largest city in the E ...

and moved to

Berryville, Virginia Berryville is an incorporated town in and the county seat of Clarke County, Virginia, United States. The population was 4,185 at the 2010 census, up from 2,963 at the 2000 census. History Berryville was founded at the intersection of the Winche ...

, in 1996 to join the pw firm of Hobert, Kerr & Perka P.C. In 1998, Daniel opened her own law practice in

Winchester, Virginia Winchester is the most north western independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Frederick County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Winchester wit ...

. Daniel was the Virginia Managing Attorney at Booth, Strange & Daniel, a trade name for the Central Atlantic Legal Group, from late 2017 until May, 2020. Daniel also worked as a part-time assistant commonwealth's attorney in Winchester from 1998, prosecuting domestic violence and sexual assault cases. In 2009, then-Delegate (later to become Judge)

Clay Athey Clifford Lynwood "Clay" Athey Jr. (born September 1, 1960) is an American politician and jurist. He served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 2002 to 2012. He has served as a judge of the Virginia Court of Appeals since 2019. Se ...

invited Daniel to interview for a vacant position, and she realized that a judgeship eventually might be possible for her. She then interviewed on-and-off for ten years. In March 2020, Daniel was appointed as a General District Court Judge for the 26th Judicial District of Virginia. She began her term on June 1, 2020.

References

Living people 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American judges University of Richmond alumni University of Virginia alumni Virginia lawyers 20th-century American women lawyers 21st-century American women judges Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-law-bio-stub