Hon. Margaret Walsh (ret.)

Judge Walsh served for four years as a New York State Supreme Court Judge in Albany County, and was previously a family court judge for fourteen years. She is Co-Chair of the New York State Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics, a panel of twenty-seven judges that decides matters of judicial ethics for the State's judges. She is a member of the New York State Permanent Judicial Commission on Justice for Children, the New York State Commission on Parental Legal Representation, and the Richard C. Failla LGBTQ Commission of the New York Courts.

Judge Walsh is a past Vice President of the National Association of Women Judges’ New York Chapter and a past Vice President of the New York State Family Court Judges’ Association. She served as the judicial lead in New York State's System Improvement Program, a federal government project that seeks to redesign the State courts' child welfare practices relative to alcohol and drug addiction cases. She was the lead judge in Albany County for the New York State Child Welfare Court Improvement Project and a member of the Statewide Multidisciplinary Child Welfare Collaborative, the steering committee that provides guidance to local Court Improvement Projects. In these roles Judge Walsh ascertained and fostered the implementation of practices that reduce the time children spend in foster care. She formed and chaired the Court/Community Partnership to ensure communication among the courts, schools, police, and other agencies regarding children and youth who are the subject of family court proceedings. Practices developed through this Committee's work promote better outcomes for court-involved youth.

Judge Walsh was awarded the 2017 Hon. Judith S. Kaye Distinguished Attorney Member Award by the Capital District Women's Bar Association and in 2016 a Kate Stoneman Day Award by Albany Law School. She is a graduate of Albany High School (1982), Manhattan College (1986) and Brooklyn Law School (1991).