Kathleen O'Ferrall Friedman
MSA SC 3520-11781

Biography:

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, January 19, 1941.  Attended Baltimore parochial schools; College of Notre Dame of Maryland, B.A., history, 1962; University of Maryland School of Law, LL.B., 1966; University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work, M.S.W., 1969.  Admitted to Maryland bar, 1967.

Junior high school history teacher, Baltimore City Public Schools, 1962-64.
Baltimore City Department of Social Services, Clyburn Home, 1967-68.
Probation officer, 1967-70; intake consultant, May-August 1968; intake supervisor, May-December 1969, Maryland State Department of Juvenile Services.
Protective Services Division, Student Work Placements, 1968-69.
Member, Democratic State Central Committee, 1970-74.
Volunteer Parole Aide Committee, 1971-72; member, 1978-86, secretary, 1981-82, chair, 1984-85, Section of Family and Juvenile Law; Committee on Dispute
        Resolution Alternatives Section of Judicial Administration, 1978-79; The Special Committee on Law Practice Quality, 1982-84; board of governors,
        1982-84; Program Committee, 1985-88; Committee on Professionalism, 1989-, Maryland State Bar Association.
Member, Family Court Committee Supreme Bench of Baltimore City, 1971-76.
Staff attorney, January-August, 1971; domestic law specialist, 1971-75; managing attorney, domestic law unit, 1975-77, Legal Aid Bureau, Inc.
Advisory board member, 1971-85; founding member and legal counsel, 1977-85; The House of Ruth, Inc.
Member of advisory board, Mental Health Association of Metropolitan Baltimore, 1972-75.
Member, Baltimore City Bar Association Family Law Committee, 1973-76, 1978-84, chair, 1981-82; member, Bridge the Gap Committee, 1973-74.
Instructor on law and social work, continuing legal education, University of Maryland School of Social Work & Community Planning, spring 1974.
Executive board, American Civil Liberties Union, 1974-85.
Founding member; president, 1972-74; board of directors, 1974-76, Women's Law Center.
Member, Inquiry Committee, 1974-76; Review Board, 1981-83, Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland.
Co-author, The Legal Rights of Women in Marriage and Divorce in Maryland.  Baltimore:  Diana Press, Inc., 1974.
Co-author, The Legal Status of Homemakers in Maryland.  Washington, D.C.:  U.S. Government Printing Office, 1976.
Author, "When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife?" Maryland Law Forum VI, no. 2, (1976).
Chair, Governor's Commission to Study Implementation of the Equal Rights Amendment, 1975-78.
Instructor on law and social work, College of Notre Dame of Maryland, fall 1977.
Delegate to National Women's Conference, Houston, Texas, November, 18-21, 1977.
Author, "The Image of Battered Women."  American Journal of Public Health 67, no. 8 (1977).
Member, Mayor's Committee on the Disposition of Fells Point Properties, Baltimore City, 1977-81.
Partner, Friedman & Hedeman, 1977-81.
Author, "Review of Present Law and Changes Created by Property Disposition Act."  Maryland's New Disposition of Property Law (Senate Bill 604), The Maryland Institute for continuing Professional Education of Lawyers, Inc., 1978.
Instructor, on women and the law, Goucher College, spring 1978 and fall 1980.
Member, Trial Courts Judicial Nominating Commission, 1979-82.
Member, Governor's Commission on Domestic Relations Laws, 1979-83.
Author, "Divorce: Grounds & Defenses."  Maryland Divorce and Separation Law.  Baltimore, Maryland:  MICPEL, 1979, 1982, 1985, and 1992.
Co-author, Inter-Spousal Assault in Maryland, a Survey Report on Women.  Department of Human Resources, 1979.
Instructor on divorce and separation law, adoption and other domestic law issues, Maryland Institute for Continuing Professional Education of Lawyers, Inc.
        (MICPEL), 1979-.
Author, Battered:  What Can I Do?  A Survival Manual.  Baltimore:  Maryland Commission for Women in cooperation with The Women's Law Center of Maryland, Inc., 1982.
Partner, Ruther, Erlich, Friedman & Greenberg, 1981-82.
Listed in, "Chapter One:  Domestic Relations," The Best Lawyers in America, 1983.
Vice-chair, Child Support Enforcement Advisory Council, 1983-87.
Partner, Constable, Alexander, Daneker & Skeen, 1983-85.
Author, "Representing the Domestic Client."  The Barrister 1, no. 4 (January, 1984).
Member, Baltimore City Bar Association (treasurer and member of executive council, 1984-85).
Associate judge, Baltimore City Circuit Court, 8th Judicial Circuit, 1985-2002 (retired February 5, 2002).
Instructor on child custody and visitation, alimony, child support, child abuse, marital property, and other domestic law issues, Maryland Judicial Institute, 1985-
Administrative judge in charge of Domestic Matters, 1987-96.
Chair, Governor's Committee to Study Sentencing and Correctional Alternatives for Women Convicted of Crime, 1988.
Member, Maryland's Girl Scouts Beyond Bars Advisory Committee.
President's Medal from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, 1988.
President, Serjeants' Inn Law Club, 1988-89.
Author, "What has the Marital Property Act Wrought?  Ten Years in Perspective."  The Barrister 3, no. 3, (1990).
Member, 1986-91, and chair, 1990-91, Juvenile and Family Law and Procedures Committee; chair, 1987-88, Subcommittee to Study Uniform
     Procedures for Handling Adoptions; member, 1991-93, Family Law Committee; member, 1992-96, Committee on Child Support Enforcement,
     Maryland Judicial Conference.
Author, Recommendations for Handling Independent Adoptions.  Buffalo, N.Y.:  William S. Hein & Co., Inc., 1989.
The Dorothy Beatty Memorial Award for the advancement of women's rights, Women's Law Center of Maryland, 1991.
Author, Adoptions 1991.  Baltimore, Maryland:  MICPEL, 1991.
Baltimore City Women's Hall of Fame, 1992.
Women of the Year, Baltimore Zonta Club, 1992.
Member, Maryland Attorney General's Advisory Council on Family Legal Needs of Low Income Persons, 1992.
Treasurer,1993-95; president, 1995-97, Maryland Circuit Judges Association.
Chair, Resolution Committee, 1993; chair, Maryland Chapter Women in Prison Task Force, 1993-95; president, Maryland chapter 1999-2000;
        National Association of Women Judges.
Author, "Conspiracy of Silence."  Maryland Bar Journal 27, no. 2 (March/April 1994).
Co-Author, "Adoptions After the New Rules."  Baltimore, Maryland:  MICPEL, 1996.
Board member, 1995 - present; chair, Presidential Search Committee, 1997; treasurer, 1999-2000, College of Notre Dame of Maryland Alumni Association.
Rosalyn B. Bell Award for distinguished service in the area of family law, Women's Law Center of Maryland, 1997.
Maryland's Top 100 Women, The Daily Record, 1997, 2002.
Chair, Subcommittee on Independent Adoptions, Maryland Judicial Conference, 1998.
Member, board of directors, Baltimore Courthouse and Law Museum Foundation, 1988-.
Member, Lawyers' Roundtable Law Club.
Member, Maryland Bar Association and American Bar Association.
Fellow, Maryland Bar Foundation and American Bar Foundation.
Teaching member, National Judicial College.

Extended biography

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