Seven Maryland Justices, Seven Non-Maryland Law Schools

By Steve Klepper

Pop quiz!

Question 1: Which court has more justices who received their law degrees from Maryland law schools?
(a) Supreme Court of Maryland
(b) Supreme Court of Montana

Question 2: Which of these courts has the fewest justices who received their undergraduate degrees from Maryland colleges or universities?
(a) Supreme Court of Maryland
(b) Supreme Court of Michigan
(c) Supreme Court of Montana

Answer 1: (b)
No Maryland justices graduated from Maryland law schools.
Montana Justice Laurie McKinnon received her J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law.

Answer 2: (a)
No Maryland justices received their undergraduate degrees from Maryland colleges or universities.
Montana Justice Laurie McKinnon graduated from Goucher College in Towson, Maryland.
Michigan Justice Kimberly A. Thomas received her B.A. from the University of Maryland.

Maryland’s seven justices graduated from seven different non-Maryland law schools, and from seven different non-Maryland undergraduate colleges and universities. Two were born in Maryland, but just as many were born in New York.

Supreme Court of Maryland, September 2025 Term
Justice	Born	College	Law School
Chief Justice Matthew J. Fader	Towson, MD	University of Virginia	Yale University
Justice Shirley M. Watts	Baltimore, MD	Howard University	Rutgers University
Justice Brynja M. Booth	Olean, NY	Bucknell University	Washington and Lee University
Justice Jonathan Biran	New York, NY	Swarthmore College	Stanford University
Justice Steven B. Gould	Washington, DC	University of Pennsylvania	Boston University
Justice Angela M. Eaves	Canal Zone, Panama	University of Texas	University of Texas
Justice Peter K. Killough	Detroit, MI	New York University	University of Virginia

Just 15 years ago, the Court featured six graduates of the University of Maryland School of Law. The only exception was Chief Judge Bell, a Baltimore icon who held the Court’s Baltimore seat and attended college at Morgan State in Baltimore. Four of seven received their undergraduate degrees from Maryland public universities.

September 2010 Term
Judge	Born	College	Law School
Chief Judge Robert M. Bell	Rocky Mount, NC	Morgan State College	Harvard University
Judge Glenn T. Harrell, Jr.	Ashland, KY	University of Maryland	University of Maryland
Judge Lynne A. Battaglia	Buffalo, NY	American University	University of Maryland
Judge Clayton Greene, Jr.	Glen Burnie, MD	University of Maryland	University of Maryland
Judge Joseph F. Murphy, Jr.	Fitchburg, MA	Boston College	University of Maryland
Judge Sally D. Adkins	Salisbury, MD	Lawrence University	University of Maryland
Judge Mary Ellen Barbera	Baltimore, MD	Towson State College	University of Maryland

Is this a mere a factoid, or is there anything meaningful to draw from this information? As a Baltimorean, I lament that it is no longer the case that most members of Maryland’s high court attended law school in Baltimore City, home to both in-state law schools. Still, five of seven current justices spent significant parts their legal careers working in Baltimore City. It helps that the Office of the Attorney General remains in downtown Baltimore.

And a plurality of the Appellate Court of Maryland graduated from Maryland’s law schools—Judges Graeff, Arthur, Friedman, Beachley, and Shaw from the University of Maryland and Judge Berger from the University of Baltimore.

As the Baby Boomer generation of judges hands the baton to Generation X, I suspect that a nationwide survey would show that a smaller share of state appellate judges attended in-state law schools and undergraduate institutions. (One exception, with a flat trendline, would be Alaska, which has no law school.)

Zero state justices from in-state schools is likely just an anomaly. No one knows what either Maryland appellate court will look like in the next few years. Between now and 2031, three of seven justices of the Supreme Court of Maryland and 10 of 15 Appellate Court of Maryland judges will reach the mandatory retirement age.

I’ll leave you with one last trivia question.

Who is the last member of the Supreme Court of Maryland who received their law degree or undergraduate degree from a Maryland institution?

Chief Judge Joseph M. Getty received his B.A. from Washington College (Chestertown, Maryland) and his J.D. from the University of Maryland. He retired eight months before the Court became the Supreme Court, and the “judges” became “justices.”