Judge Andrea Leahy was named as the 2025 recipient of the American Inns of Court Fourth Circuit Professionalism Award. The Professionalism Awards are awarded each year to a lawyer or judge whose life and practice display character and integrity and show a dedication to the highest standards of the legal profession and the rule of law.
Judge Leahy is currently an associate judge at large in the Appellate Court of Maryland and was appointed to the court in 2014. She is chair-elect of the Judicial Ethics Committee and a member of the Judicial Transparency and Access Workgroup. She was a member of the Legislative Committee, the Specialty Courts and Dockets Committee, and subcommittees focused on mental health, alcoholism and addictions, and behavioral health.
Prior to her time as a judge, she began her career as an assistant county attorney in Prince George’s County Office of Law. During her time in that office, she met County Executive Parris Glendening and when he was elected as Maryland’s Governor in 1995, Leahy was hired as his chief legal counsel. She chaired a project to bring judges, lawyers, and academics together to publish a history of women in Maryland law, which culminated in the book Finding Justice: A History of Women Lawyers in Maryland Since 1642.
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