The Hon. Catherine Chen is an associate judge for the Baltimore City District Court in Maryland. She was appointed to the bench by Governor Larry Hogan on June 21, 2018.
Chen has held assignments on the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee, the Court Operations Committee, the Domestic Law Committee, and the Legislative Committee of the Maryland Judicial Council.
Prior to her appointment, Chen was an assistant state’s attorney with the Baltimore City Office of the State’s Attorney, a position to which she was named in 2014. During her tenure there, she served in the Special Victims Unit. Before that, she was a staff attorney for the House of Ruth Domestic Violence Legal Clinic (2010 to 2014) and the Maryland Crime Victims' Resource Center, Inc. (2008 to 2009).
Chen earned a bachelor’s degree in developmental psychology from Tufts University in 1999. She then completed a J.D. at the Brooklyn Law School in 2003. She is admitted to practice in Connecticut (2003), New York (2004), and Maryland (2008).
After graduating from law school, Chen began her legal career as an associate at Tabat, Cohen, Blum & Yovino in West Islip, New York. She worked in that capacity until 2004, at which time she became a staff attorney for the New York City Administration of Children’s Services. Then, in 2005, Chen joined the Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn. She spent the next three years working as a staff attorney in its Juvenile Rights Practice Section.
Her memberships have included the Maryland State Bar Association, the Baltimore City Bar Association, the Asian Pacific American Bar Association, and the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. She also served as a volunteer for the Baltimore City Teen Court Advisory Board.
Chen was born in Queens, New York, and attended the Calvert School.