BERNE — Elizabeth Garry will be taking on a new role in the New York State Judicial Department that could lead her to shaping state policy. A Hilltown native, Garry was appointed by Governor Andrew Cuomo on New Year’s Day as Presiding Justice for the Appellate Division for the Third Judicial Department. Garry had most recently served as a justice in that department.

Garry was appointed to the Appellate Court, Third Department, almost nine years ago, during which she learned about the court and the several committees that are connected to it. She said she has had amazing leaders before her, and now she will be stepping into their shoes.

“I’m embarking in 2018 for what will be the best work of my life,” she told The Enterprise.

Garry’s predecessor was the first woman to serve as presiding justice in the Third Department in 2012, and Garry herself will be the first openly lesbian presiding justice in the state.

Garry said that, while representation is important, a judge’s identity should not be a defining factor.

“I mean, pick some other parts of a well-rounded identity,” she said, noting that, besides being a lesbian, she is also the daughter of a dairy farmer, as an example.

Garry did note that her appointment is historical, recalling a time when “you couldn’t dare to be so identified,” as a lesbian.

Garry currently lives in New Berlin, in Chenango County, in the western section of her division, though she travels to Albany regularly, she said.

“It’s very similar to Berne,” she said, comparing her current residence to the town she grew up in. Both are very rural, she said, although New Berlin is not in close proximity to as large a city as Albany, so more small businesses can be found there.

Garry still owns property in the Hilltowns, where her father, Harry Garry, known as the “Singing Farmer,” operated the Hillcrest Dairy Farm in Berne and wrote a column for The Enterprise. Her mother, Dr. Margery Smith, served as doctor in the Hilltowns.

“I still will be recognized when I’m in Berne … as Dr. Smith’s daughter,” she said, describing her parents as “pillars of the Hilltowns.”

Her parents, a farmer who advocated for farmers in the Farm Bureau and a female doctor who was a pioneer in her field at the time, helped inspire to get engaged in civic endeavors. Garry’s father died in 2004, and her mother in 2012.

“I am always inspired by my parents … ,” she said. “They are what I’m trying to bring forward.”

Reaching the pinnacle

Garry reveres the Appellate Court, describing it as the “premier institution” for the state’s judiciary. It is the middle-level court in the state’s three-tiered system. As one of four presiding judges, Garry and the other leaders of the Appellate Court will work with the chief judge to write policy for the judicial branch in New York State, a position unique only to the presiding judges, she said.

The policies set can affect both the state judicial branch and bar, said Garry. Her predecessor, Karen Peters, was one the presiding judges who helped create more uniform rules among the different departments in the state, meaning that courtroom law could not potentially change in the next county over, she said.

The Appellate Court, Third Department, hears appeals from trial courts — such as the Supreme Court, County Courts, Family Courts, Surrogate's Courts, and the Court of Claims — and also hears appeals from administrative cases in state departments like the Department of Labor. The caseload totals almost 2,000 cases a year, said Garry.

“It is quite a daunting caseload,” she said.

The Appellate Court, which sits between trial courts and the Court of Appeals, is divided into four departments consisting of different areas of the state. The Third Department stretches from the mid-Hudson Valley in the south, the Canadian border in the north, the Massachusetts border in the east, and Schuyler County in the west.

As the leader of the court and the Third Department’s administrator, Garry will be overseeing various committees, including the committees on Professional Standards and Character and Fitness, Mental Hygiene Legal Services, and the Office of Attorneys for Children.

When asked if she saw herself in an even higher position in another nine years, Garry responded, “I don’t know. This is really a pinnacle of my legal career … I don’t claim any further ambition.”

Garry was elected to the state supreme court in 2006, and before that was a civil litigator for 13 years. She graduated from Alfred University in 1984 after studying psychology and religion, and earned her law degree in 1990 from Albany Law School.

Garry has also been involved in various organizations and law groups, such as volunteering as a mediator. She was recently appointed as co-chair of the Richard C. Failla LGBTQ Commission of the State Courts.