DA Marian Ryan - Keynote Speaker at World Peace & Understanding Dinner

Elected to office in 2014, Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan represents the Commonwealth’s largest county with 54 towns and cities and 26 colleges in urban, suburban, and rural areas, comprising over one quarter of the population of Massachusetts.

District Attorney Ryan is a career prosecutor with significant courtroom experience having prosecuted many of Middlesex County’s most complex and challenging cases.  She is a talented appellate attorney and has briefed and argued more than 40 cases in the Massachusetts Appeals Court and Supreme Judicial Court. As District Attorney, she is responsible for the prosecution of approximately 40,000 cases a year.

From her experience she has learned that as important as prosecution is, prevention is equally as important and leads to a better outcome.  She is a recognized expert on developing and creating innovative solutions that are defined by not simply getting involved after a criminal act has occurred but instead taking meaningful steps to stop crime before it happens.

District Attorney Ryan has been a leader in domestic violence prevention and prosecution for over three decades and has conducted trainings across the county for prosecutors, law enforcement officers and service providers on recognizing the signs of domestic violence.

She regularly lectures and leads workshops on workplace safety, the dangers of prescription drug abuse, teen dating violence, anti-bullying, and distracted driving; and has been acknowledged for her leadership on the opioid crisis and on developing initiatives aimed at keeping children safe and protecting our seniors.

District Attorney Ryan has received a number of awards and peer recognition for her trial skills and community involvement including receiving the Middlesex County Bar Association Lifetime Achievement Award and the Boston College Law School’s David Nelson Public Service Award.

District Attorney Ryan has significant teaching experience as an adjunct professor at both graduate and undergraduate levels.  She is currently on the faculty of Lasell College in Newton, where she teaches courses in Constitutional Law and the American Legal System.  She has previously taught at Emmanuel College and Wentworth Institute and has served as an instructor at Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop.

As the only female District Attorney in the state of Massachusetts, she is committed, through her volunteer work with the Women’s Bar Foundation, to mentoring women lawyers and law students as they begin their legal careers.  She has also served on the faculty of numerous professional and community boards focused on training practicing lawyers, including the National Association of District Attorneys, the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Massachusetts District Attorneys Association, and Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education.

District Attorney Ryan grew up in Somerville and is a summa cum laude graduate of Emmanuel College and a cum laude graduate of Boston College Law School.