The Hon. Mary Pat Murphy Donnelly, East Greenbush Town Judge, is an experienced attorney in criminal and family courts with deep roots in the Capital District. She is also a parent-volunteer with several organizations, who also serves as a board member of the Timothy J. Murphy Foundation, which since 2006 has awarded over $100, 000 in scholarships to the children and grandchildren of public safety personnel. She is married to Albany Police Detective Sergeant Patrick Donnelly, and has six children.

While at Columbia High School, Judge Donnelly excelled in her studies and participated in many clubs and organizations, and represented her school in the American Legion Empire Girls State Program in 1989. ANational Honor Society member, she graduated magna cum laude in 1990 and pursued her undergraduate studies at the State University at Albany, where she developed an interest in law. That interest soon flourished in her post-graduate years. At Albany Law School, Judge Donnelly received several honors as a member of the Albany Law School Moot Court program. The opportunities to test her acumen against the best soon followed: she was selected to be on the National Sports Law Team that competed in a national event held in New Orleans. In her second year, she took part in the 1996 Suppression Hearing Competition; as a finalist, she competed against third-year law students. She also volunteered in the Community Literacy Program of Albany, reading to students each week at Hackett Middle School.

After earning her law degree in 1997 and being admitted to the bar in New York and Vermont, Judge Donnelly began working for the state attorney's office in Bennington, Vermont. Eventually, she had the desire to return home to East Greenbush and accepted a job with the NYS Unified Court System as the court's attorney in the City of Albany Police Court; later, she rose to the position of Associate Court Attorney. For over fifteen years, Judge Donnelly has provided counsel to Albany City Court judges in criminal and traffic cases, small claims and summary proceedings. From January 2006 to June 2012, she served as an attorney for the East Greenbush Zooning Board of Appeals before being appointed to the position of East Greenbush Town Judge. In November 2012, Judge Donnelly was elected to a four-year term.

In addition to balancing the demands of work and family life, Judge Donnelly has been volunteering in her hometown for many years. It is no wonder the judge’s sister, Katherine P. Murphy-Gagnon, Columbia Class of 2002, calls her “my idol since day one....she is, indeed, the hardest working woman I know.” Judge Donnelly assisted in establishing the Rensselaer County Youth Court in the Town of East Greenbush, serving on the Board of Directors and acting as a mentor to participants in her capacity as an attorney. Currently, she is a public relations director for the East Greenbush Girls Softball League and volunteer for the Castleton Little League. Judge Donnelly’s volunteer record in East Greenbush School District is indelible, with time devoted to enrichment programs and extracurricular programs as a member of the PTO at Green Meadow Elementary School. Through it all, she has displayed “a sense of humor, integrity, and determined work ethic” as well as an “unfailing grace, dignity, and humility”, according to Virginia O’Brien, a long-time friend of the judge and her family.