Commissioner Interviews: Vice Chair Katie O’Malley
Maryland Two Fifty Commission Vice-Chair Catherine (Katie) Curran O’Malley spoke with MD Two Fifty staff about her 20-plus year journey in public service in Maryland. From prosecutor to District Court Judge to Maryland’s First Lady to candidate for Maryland Attorney General, Vice-Chair O’Malley shared with us her high hopes for the semiquincentennial in Maryland.

The names Curran and O’Malley are both well known in Maryland. Vice-Chair O’Malley is the daughter of longtime Maryland Attorney General J. Joseph Curran, Jr., who served from 1987 through 2007, and Barbara Marie Atkins Curran. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Towson University and a Juris Doctor from University of Baltimore School of Law.
After law school, she worked as a prosecutor in Baltimore County. In 2001, former Governor and Maryland Two Fifty Commission Chair Parris Glendening appointed her as a Judge on the District Court of Baltimore City. Her husband since 1990, Martin O’Malley, also an attorney and now Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, was Mayor of Baltimore from 1999 through 2007 and Maryland’s Governor from 2007 through 2015. Together they raised four children who today are young adults, and three are also attorneys.
When asked about what she was most proud of in her years in public service, Vice-Chair O’Malley spoke of her work on domestic violence issues and training new judges. She was fascinated by “the nuances of domestic violence cases and how different they were from other cases.” She explained that during her service as a Judge she was able to learn a lot from senior judges and was proud to continue teaching judges who came after her.
In 2022, Vice-Chair O’Malley ran unsuccessfully for Maryland Attorney General. Today she serves as Executive Director of the Women’s Law Center of Maryland (WLC), a 52-year old nonprofit helping victims of intimate partner violence and providing free or reduced legal services. Additionally, WLC operates an employment law hotline and family law hotline. She shared that “the work is hard and domestic intimate partner violence is traumatic,” and “staff go to the office every day knowing that we are there to help.” She noted that these legal services can often be very expensive and WLC provides services that can be life changing and life-saving.
Vice-Chair O’Malley was appointed as Maryland Two Fifty Commission Vice-Chair by Governor Wes Moore in 2023, and the Commission sunsets in 2027. She was Maryland’s First Lady during the 200th anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner and remembers it fondly. She expressed her excitement for the 250th, and thinks back to the bicentennial when she was a child painting fire hydrants in Baltimore City and visiting the tall ships. She looks forward to 250th celebrations in Baltimore and around the state.