Hogan names 4, including Del. Dumais, to Montgomery County Circuit Court

Gov. Larry Hogan has named four new members of the Montgomery County Circuit Court, including longtime Del. Kathleen Dumais.

Hogan’s office announced the appointments early Tuesday.

Dumais has served in the House of Delegates, where she represents District 15 in Montgomery County, since 2003. She is the vice-chair of the House Economic Matters Committee.

She is also a family law attorney and has worked for the past 10 years as senior counsel with Ethridge, Quinn, Kemp, Rowan & Hartinger, a Rockville-based firm. She received her J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law, the governor’s office said in a news release.

Also joining Dumais on the bench are Judge Carlos Acosta, Theresa Chernosky and Rachel McGuckian.

Acosta has served on the District Court for Montgomery County since 2018 and was previously the inspector general for the Prince George’s County Police Department for six years, the governor’s office said. He has also held roles in the U.S. Department of Justice and the state’s attorney’s offices for Montgomery and Prince George’s counties.

He received his J.D. from Southern Methodist University School of Law, according to the governor’s office.

Chernosky is the deputy district public defender for the Montgomery County Public Defender’s Office, where she has worked for the past 20 years. She became an assistant public defender in Kentucky shortly after law school before returning to Montgomery County, the governor’s office said.

She received her J.D. from Albany Law School.

McGuckian is a managing principal for Miles & Stockbridge and has worked at the firm for 25 years, the governor’s office said. She has focused on complex civil litigation, including government contracts and commercial litigation, and has also represented defendants through the Office of the Public Defender.

She received her J.D. from the University of Baltimore School of Law, the governor’s office said.

“It is my pleasure to appoint these distinguished individuals to serve in our state’s judicial system,” Hogan said in a statement. “Montgomery County’s Circuit Court is gaining an immensely talented and principled group of judges who will honorably serve the citizens of Maryland in the years to come.”

The judicial vacancies came from the retirements of four sitting judges in Montgomery County: Judges Gary E. Bair, Cynthia Callahan, Robert A. Greenberg and Ronald B. Rubin.