Mary Ellen Barbera (born September 10, 1951) is an American lawyer and jurist from
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, Maryland.
Education
In 1975, Barbera earned a bachelor's degree from
Towson State College. In 1984, Barbera earned a JD degree from
University of Maryland School of Law
The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law (formerly University of Maryland School of Law) is the law school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S. Its location places Maryland L ...
.
Career
From July 8, 2013 to September 10, 2021, she served as Chief Judge on the
Maryland Court of Appeals
The Supreme Court of Maryland is the highest court of the U.S. state of Maryland. Its name was changed on December 14, 2022, from the Maryland Court of Appeals, after a voter-approved change to the state constitution. The court, which is compose ...
, the highest court in the state. Until 2008, she served as a judge on the Court of Appeals representing the 7th Appellate Judicial Circuit (Montgomery County).
Barbera, a graduate of the
University of Maryland School of Law
The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law (formerly University of Maryland School of Law) is the law school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S. Its location places Maryland L ...
, is the first female Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals.
Prior to her appointment to the Court of Appeals, she served as an at large judge on Maryland's intermediate appellate court, the
Court of Special Appeals, from January 4, 2002 to September 2, 2008.
On July 3, 2013, Governor
Martin O'Malley appointed Judge Barbera as successor to former Chief Judge
Robert M. Bell, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. On September 3, 2021, Governor
Larry Hogan appointed Judge
Joseph M. Getty to succeed Barbera when she reached the mandatory retirement age on September 10, 2021.
See also
*
List of female state supreme court justices Female state supreme court justices
First female justices
Below is a list of the names of the first woman to sit on the highest court of their respective states in the United States.
The first state with a female justice was Ohio; Florence E. ...
References
External links
*
Barbera's profile at the Maryland State Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbera, Mary Ellen
1951 births
21st-century American judges
21st-century American women judges
Chief Judges of the Maryland Court of Appeals
Lawyers from Baltimore
Living people
Towson University alumni
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law alumni
Women chief justices of state supreme courts in the United States