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General News: Cornwall's New Judge Ready to Start
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| Judge Jacqueline McBride Gaillard and her family, from left, son Ryan, husband Richard, son Jack and daughter Emily. |
April 03, 2012
By Nancy Peckenham
A new face will be on the bench at Cornwall Town Court on Thursday evening. That’s when attorney Jacqueline McBride Gaillard dons judge’s robes for the first time and moves into her role as Cornwall’s first female judge.
The 48-year-old was appointed by the Cornwall Town Board to fill the remaining term of Judge Thomson, who passed away in January after serving 48 years in office. In fact, he started his judgeship the same week that McBride Gaillard was born.
A native of Rock Hill, McBride Gaillard’s grandfather was the mayor of Goshen and her father, Jack McBride, a state assemblyman and attorney. She started working in her father’s office when she was 14 years old but explored other careers before going to law school. While living in California in the late 1980s, she developed a melanoma and while recovering realized that she had a second chance to do something special with her life. That’s when she decided to become a lawyer and graduated Pace University summa cum laude, in 1994, and Pace University School of Law, cum laude, in 1997.
McBride Gaillard started her career as an attorney in her father’s practice, handling personal injury cases, then added other services, like estate planning, mediation and civil litigation. Ten years ago, in 2002, she married Richard Gaillard and moved to Cornwall-on-Hudson, eventually opening a law practice on Route 9W in New Windsor.
With three children ranging in ages from 9 to 15, Cornwall’s newest judge says that she supports the long-standing practice of Judge Francis Navarra to find alternative sentences for juvenile offenders as a way to get their lives back on track.
Judge McBride Gaillard just completed a week of judicial training in Albany, where she learned the basic rules for setting bail and filing charges, as well as about the ethical considerations she will face as a judge. (She will be allowed to continue as the Director of the Cornwall Lion Club’s Fall Harvest Race, but she won’t be allowed to raise any funds for it.)
Her decision to put her name in the hat for town justice was spontaneous. She saw a note that applications were being accepted and, in her words, “hemmed and hawed” about putting her name in. “I knew I had the credentials and I thought I’d be a good judge,” she said, explaining her decision to go for it.
Her only regret is that her father will not be able to see her when takes the bench on Thursday, he passed away 13 years ago. “He would have encouraged me, he was a wonderful mentor,” McBride Gaillard recalled, obviously pleased to be following in his footsteps.
Comments:
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Welcome, Judge Jackie.
posted by Kathi Ellick on 04/03/12 at 6:18 PM
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Great News!!Good Luck .So proud of you!
posted by barbara hembree on 04/04/12 at 6:56 PM
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