You are here

Biography of Judge Shirley Jones

District Judge Shirley Jones was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on June 27, 1925.  From an early age, Judge Jones had an interest in law, interning at the office of former Governor Emerson Harrington in high school.  Judge Jones later earned an A.A. from the University of Baltimore and an LL.B. from its School of Law.  

Judge Jones began her career as an attorney with the Maryland Department of Employment Security, which she served until 1952.  She then took the office of City Solicitor and later rose to become the first woman Assistant Attorney General for Maryland.  Judge Jones also became the first woman to sit on the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City in 1961 and was nationally recognized as the presiding judge of the disbarment of case of former Vice President Spiro Agnew following the Watergate scandal.  In 1979, President Jimmy Carter appointed Judge Jones as Judge of the U.S. District Court of the District of Maryland, the first woman to hold the position.  Judge Jones served until her retirement in 1982.

The Maryland Bar admitted Judge Jones in 1947.  She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Maryland and frequently gives lectures at her alma mater.  Judge Jones is also known for her numerous published legal opinions on the Federal Supplement.